


Hit Me With Your Best Shot

by miraclebee



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: All The Ships, Alternate Universe - College/University, Chan has a crossbow because he's a cupid but it doesn't actually hurt anyone, Chan is a Cupid, Cupid AU, M/M, Matchmaking, Multi, Slow Burn, Some Fluff, Some Swearing, Some angst, because no one can stop me, cameos by other idols, especially the jicheol and soonchan, i guess, weapons?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-16 04:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 69,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13628907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraclebee/pseuds/miraclebee
Summary: Lee Chan is a hardworking young man. Everyone knows this. He’s at the top of his class, he’s the youngest on the elite dance team at his school, and he holds down a part-time job at the supermarket downtown. Lee Chan is hard working and he’s been finished with his training for months and he doesn’t know why he hasn’t gotten his assignment yet, which is more than a little embarrassing.(Or, Chan is a Cupid and out of 7.5 billion people on the planet, he keeps getting assigned to find love for his friends)





	1. Chapter 1

 

Lee Chan is a hardworking young man. Everyone knows this.

 

He’s at the top of his class, he’s the youngest on the elite dance team at his school, _and_ he holds down a part-time job at the supermarket downtown. Lee Chan is hard working and he’s been finished with his training for _months_ and he doesn’t know why he hasn’t gotten his assignment yet, which is more than a little embarrassing.

 

All the other Cupids his age have gotten their assignments; even Kangmin had received his first assignment just days ago. Chan should definitely have his by now, but he doesn’t. He should be past sulking about it by now, but he’s not. This sucks.

 

“This sucks,” Chan breathes out, slumping further onto the floor at the foot of Kangmin’s bed. They’re all gathered in Kangmin’s dorm, only Yerim and Tzuyu giving the younger boy pointers seeing as they had already completed one assignment each. Yerim is probably due to get a new one any day now, if the success of her first assignment is anything to go by. Chan has remained as silent and as useless as he had since their first contingency meeting a few months ago, with no experience or help to offer. Yerim shoves her elbow into Chan’s ribs in what he thinks is supposed to be a gesture of camaraderie.

 

“Don’t worry about it, Chan, you’ll get your assignment soon,” Yerim says, giggling slightly when Chan curls up in a ball because that _hurt_. No one should be allowed to have that bony of elbows.

 

“Yeah, cheer up Chan. This Cupid thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” Tzuyu says from Kangmin’s desk chair. She emphasizes her point by giving a half-hearted spin while looking up at the ceiling, letting her head fall back and her hair flow over the back of the chair. 

 

“Guys, can we focus on me now, please? I’ve had this name for three days and I still don’t know how to start!”

 

Chan looks over at Kangmin, who looks a bit disheveled sitting at the head of his bed with his hands in his dark hair and his eyes bugging out a little bit. Yerim immediately turns her attention to Kangmin, reaching up to pat his knee sympathetically and speaking to him with soothing words.

 

Chan takes his phone for something to do while Yerim continues to encourage Kangmin and Tzuyu spins in the desk chair, contributing a joke every so often that only riles up Kangmin’s nerves. He hates feeling this useless. He sighs and looks through his messages, which he hadn’t had a chance to look through since he rushed to Kangmin’s dorm after his last class.

 

There’s only two new messages: one from his mom to remind him to come home this weekend for his grandma’s birthday party, and an obligatory “don’t forget about practice tomorrow!” text from his dance team captain with one too many emojis.

 

Wow, Chan needs some non-Cupid friends. He pockets his phone and tries to turn his attention back to the conversation at hand, but Chan can’t make himself seem to care.

 

It’s not fair, really. In Cupid lessons, Chan had been every bit as good as the others, better even. He’d studied hard, he aced his Love Triangles and Long Distance Relationship courses, and he hadn’t missed the target in Applied Archery in almost a year. Yet, for some reason, the Council had yet to send Chan out into the field. He doesn’t understand, and seeing everyone his age get an assignment before him is more than a little frustrating.

 

Chan is so focused on his thoughts that he doesn’t notice Tzuyu inching her way closer to him. He jumps when she kicks a socked foot at his knee and raises her eyebrows in a question that doesn’t reach her lips. Chan just shrugs already tired of feeling sorry for himself in front of his more successful friends. Tzuyu doesn't say anything to Chan, just keeps shooting him questioning looks every so often which he chooses to ignore. He doesn't want her pity right now.

 

Eventually, Yerim seems to notice Chan’s mood, and she steers the conversation into safer territory.

 

“So…how’s everyone doing? We haven’t all gotten together in a while after Cupid classes ended,” Yerim says, ignoring Kangmin’s weak attempts to keep the focus on his assignment.

 

“S’good! Weird, without seeing you guys all the time,” Tzuyu starts, joining Yerim’s valiant attempt at lightening the mood. “We should meet up more regularly!”

 

“What about weekends?” Yerim asks. She knows that the four of them, as new and over-achieving freshmen in college, would likely be studying late on week nights.

 

“I work weekends,” Chan mutters.

 

“Oh yeah, that’s right. Are you still dancing too?”

 

Chan nods in confirmation, not meeting anyone's eye.

 

“Shit Chan, I barely have time for school and homework and my friends, let alone this stupid Cupid thing,” Kangmin comments as he leans his head back against his headboard in defeat.

 

Kangmin inadvertently hits another one of Chan’s insecurities, though he knows the other Cupid doesn’t mean to, and he winces. Not only has Chan not gotten an assignment even though he’s more than ready but he _also_ doesn’t really have friends. He has people he acts friendly with, like the hyungs in his dance team or his roommate who is still older than Chan and loves to lord it over his head, but he has no friends his age who aren’t Cupids. There’s no one to hang out with during class or text with late at night when he’s bored and tired of filling his brain with knowledge he’s probably going to forget after the next exam anyways. He _really_ needs non-Cupid friends. Friends who like Chan for who he is and don’t pity him because he hasn’t gotten an assignment yet.

 

Yerim seems to notice Chan’s mood souring again and backtracks, making each of them promise that they’ll hang out soon, despite their busy and often conflicting schedules. They chat for a bit, reminiscing about Cupid classes and their high school days, before Kangmin starts freaking out again and the focus goes back to him.

 

Chan leaves Kangmin’s room a few hours later, more tired and disheartened than he’s been in a while. He tries not to blame the other Cupid for his mood, but he can’t help it. It just…it sucks and there’s really nothing Chan can do but wait.

 

He kicks his shoes off when he gets back to his own dorm, only a few minutes’ walk away since he lives across campus form Kangmin. Though they all hadn't meant to, the four Cupids had ended up applying and being accepted to the same college. It was close to home, and while being relatively cheap, was actually pretty prestigious. The school had attracted Chan's childhood neighbor to attend as well, much to Chan's disdain, because the sophomore liked to continually fill in both of their mothers on how Chan was adapting to college life. Luckily, Chan only runs into Seungkwan on rare occasions and has taken to updating his mother about his life pretty regularly through text. This, at least for the past month or so, seems to be appeasing his mother's nosiness.

 

Chan’s roommate, Hansol, is sprawled across his bed on top of multiple textbooks and what look like copious amounts of handwritten notes. His eyes are closed and Chan would assume that he is asleep, except for the huge sigh that erupts from the sophomore when the door clicks shut. 

 

“I think you’re studying wrong,” Chan says as he throws his backpack on the ground and flops onto his own bed.

 

“Actually, this is a superior method to studying,” Hansol says, his eyes fluttering open. He turns his head and grins when he sees his roommate in a similar "X" position staring miserably up at the ceiling.

 

“I think if I lay like this for long enough, I’ll absorb everything through my skin and I won’t have to read,” he continues, giving a wriggle so that all of the textbooks crinkle underneath him. Chan just groans at the older boy's antics.

 

“What’s wrong?” Hansol asks, propping his head up in his hand to look at his roommate properly.

 

Chan sighs. “Just…stuff.”

 

“Stuff?”

 

“Yeah,” Chan says. “Nothing really. Do we have any ramen left? I’m starving.”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Nice.”

 

Even though they've only known each other for a little over two months, Chan and Hansol get along pretty well. Chan knows Hansol well enough to know when to remind him to study and when to let him rest and Hansol knows Chan well enough when to let him drop the topic because he's stressed. Despite his quirks, Hansol is actually a pretty good roommate.

 

After two servings of ramen, Chan spends the next few hours catching up on the homework that he should have been working on at Kangmin’s emergency meeting. He tries to focus on his work, but he keeps getting caught up in the doubts that run sprints through his brain. What if the Council doesn’t think he’s good enough or not mature enough to get an assignment yet? What if they forgot about him? What if this is all a test and he is failing miserably?

 

Chan does his best to push those thoughts aside, but it takes him noticeably longer than usual to write a two-page paper for his Intro to Lit class, which makes him more frustrated at himself, which makes him lose focus more.

 

Chan decides to give up on his homework after Hansol goes to sleep at midnight, burrowing under his blankets like he usually does. He still can’t sleep after a long shower, so he grabs his laptop and watches stupid YouTube videos with his headphones so he doesn’t wake his roommate.

 

It’s just past three in the morning when Chan finally shuts his lap top off. He tosses and turns for a while until he finds a comfortable position and the young Cupid finally falls into a restless slumber, unknowingly missing a text message from the Cupid Council by mere minutes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just an intro chapter but...any thoughts?


	2. Chapter 2

 

Chan wakes up at 7, not really feeling at all rested, but he has class at 8 that he can’t miss again or else he gets docked points on his final. Which, on only a few hours of sleep, doesn't really seem that bad. But then Chan remembers that he's supposed to be responsible and reliable and he forces himself to at least attend his class even if he falls asleep halfway through the lecture. He grabs blearily at his phone, trying blindly to shut off his stupid alarm (that miraculously never seems to wake his roommate) when he sees the message.

 

Holy fucking shit. It’s from the Cupid Council. He opens the text without hesitation, breath caught in his lungs.

 

_Choi Seungcheol_

 

The name glares at him, bold black letters contrasting with the screaming white background of his phone. Chan’s heart leaps to his throat, effectively clearing his brain from its sleepy fog-like state at 7 in the morning. Chan practically falls out of bed, checks and double checks but the message is definitely from the Council. This is it. His first assignment.

 

Chan begins grinning like an idiot because just last night he was feeling sorry for himself for not having an assignment and now he has one. Chan allows himself a minute to do a happy dance before he finds himself staring at the name again. Because amidst the onslaught of feelings of relief that initially washed over him and the sweaty palms and overall jitters he's getting from the nervousness at being expected to be a real Cupid in the field, Chan registers somewhere in his brain that the name sounds _really_ familiar.

 

The thought passes quickly because he soon he’s back to— _holy shit, he just got an assignment!_ After months of waiting, he finally got a name. He’s got a chance to test the skills that he’s only been able to use in theory in the Cupid classes he attended after his hours spent at human school and dance practice and tutoring and his part-time job. This is his chance to prove to everyone, the Council, his parents, that he is worthy of the title of Cupid.

 

Just to make sure that this is legitimate, Chan decides to test out his skills. Hansol is asleep, his entire body under his covers with only a tuft of hair sticking out to signify his presence in the twin bed across the room in their shared dorm. As a human, Hansol wouldn’t be able to see any of Chan’s Cupid tricks, but he might think his roommate is crazy if he wakes up to see Chan shooting invisible arrows out of an invisible crossbow in the early morning. Better safe than sorry. Hansol is snoring softly, definitely asleep, so Chan deems it safe enough to try out some of his new powers.

 

Every Cupid learns the basic skills used for matchmaking in theory and are only given access to their full abilities when they receive their first assignment. Cautiously, Chan raises his right hand, palm facing upwards. Time to test what he learned in theory. He concentrates and watches in amazement as a small pistol crossbow materializes right into his hand, pre-loaded with a single arrow. Just like it was described in his classes. He raises it experimentally and points it at the picture of Michael Jackson striking his famous “Billie Jean” pose that hangs at the head of his bed. The crossbow feels light in his hand, yet familiar from all those years of practice. He aims for the fedora on Michael’s head, takes a breath to steady himself, and pulls the trigger.

 

Bullseye.

 

After a split second, the arrow disappears in a puff of pink smoke and where there should be a hole in his poster, is nothing.

 

Chan concentrates on the crossbow again, willing it to disappear like the arrow, and it vanishes right in front of his eyes. Fucking cool.

 

Chan opens his messenger app in his excitement, but finds himself hesitating over sending a message to his Cupid friends. A while ago, he had come to the decision to keep his first assignment to himself. Despite his recent doubts, Chan had always wanted prove he could complete his first assignment on his own, to show that there wasn’t something wrong with his skills just because his assignment had taken so long to get to him. He puts his phone back on the night stand, confident in his decision.

 

He can do this on his own. He’s sure, he’s confident, he's capable. He just hopes Tzuyu and Yerim and Kangmin won’t be too mad at him for not telling them.

 

Chan quickly gets ready for class while trying not to wake Hansol who doesn’t have class until the afternoon, practically running out of the door in his enthusiasm. He goes through his classes in a daze, excitement bubbling under his skin because he _got his assignment!_ It repeats like a mantra through his head all day, distracting him from actually retaining anything in his classes or having any normal human interactions. Which, is actually kind of typical for Chan. 

 

“What’s up with you?”

 

Soonyoung’s voice breaks through Chan’s bubble of excitement, bringing him back to the smelly, humid atmosphere of their dance studio. He had apparently gone to the dance studio after class on autopilot, and had been standing in the doorway for a few minutes until Junhui’s worried glances had prompted Soonyoung, their team captain, to go and check on their youngest dancer. Thank goodness it’s a Thursday and therefore a practice day, or Chan might’ve ended up standing in the middle of an empty studio for an embarrassingly long amount of time before realizing where he was.

 

“N-nothing hyung, I’m great!” Chan trips over his words. His giddy feelings all day had been better than caffeine and he is still riding the high, barely resisting the urge to bounce on the balls of his feet to release his energy.

 

Instead, he opts to throw his bag down to Junhui’s slumped form and grabs his clothes to go change in the locker room. When he comes back he notices Minghao has arrived, effectively completing their elite team, Per4mance. Soonyoung claps his hands together to gather everyone when he realizes they’re all present and ready for practice. He grins at them evilly, looking more than ready to come up with ways to dispel Chan’s energy. It works.

 

Four hours later, Chan feels almost catatonic, drenched in sweat and limbs comfortably numb. His thoughts, once consumed by dance steps and hyper-focused on the movements of his own body, start to creep back to his assignment. Despite knowing he should probably get started on his assignment, he’s tired and hungry so he lets Minghao and Soonyoung drag him to dinner. Junhui chooses to go back to his dorm to study, at which Minghao chooses to call him a party-pooper. Junhui just waves goodbye, a small smile on his lips.

 

They end up going to the familiar café on campus close to the studio, and that’s when Chan realizes why the name _Choi Seungcheol_ sounds so familiar.

 

“Hey hyung, what’s up?” Soonyoung greets their waiter when he arrives.

 

“Hey, Hoshi, just coming from dance practice?” Choi Seungcheol smiles down at them.

_Choi Seungcheol._

 

Chan’s heart leaps with absolute fucking joy. How could he forget he knew Choi Seungcheol? In his hurry this morning, Chan had forgotten to look him up in the Cupid Database. He pulls the app up on his phone (Chan thinks it was a good idea to update the ancient methods to fit neatly within the lives of 21st century Cupids), finally able to log in now that he has an assignment. Better make sure he’s not assigned to some other Choi Seungcheol who’s out there looking for love, he reasons, though there is this weird feeling in his gut that tells him _this_ is the Choi Seungcheol he’s looking for. There’s a little red notification under the assignments tab, he taps it and one profile pops up.

               

** Choi Seungcheol **

  * **A.K.A:** “S. Coups” or “Coups” (to friends only)
  * **Age:** 22 
  * **Element:** Fire
  * **Occupation:** Student at Pledis University, Waiter at Say the Name Café
  * **Likes:** people with passion and drive, sensitivity, romantic gestures, height differences
  * **Dislikes:** people who are closed-off, show-offs
  * **Gender:** Male
  * **Orientation:** Bisexual
  * **Current Status:** Single



 

Yep, it’s the same Choi Seungcheol that’s still standing in front of them, making easy conversation with Soonyoung. Chan has known him for a while; he’s one of Soonyoung’s friends and works part-time at the café that they frequent after practices. They go to the same college, though he’s pretty sure Seungcheol is working on his master’s degree. What are the chances of Chan actually knowing his first assignment?

 

After putting his phone down, Chan focuses on Seungcheol, watching him carefully and quietly. Soonyoung had already ordered for all of them (it’s okay because Chan is a creature of habit and orders the same thing he does every time they come here) and is currently having a cute-off contest with Minghao, if the weird finger-hearts and puppy-dog eyes they are shooting at each other are anything to go by. Anyway, his friends are distracted, so Chan is able to creep in relative peace. 

 

Choi Seungcheol is a good-looking guy, in Chan’s opinion. He’s tall, with nicely-styled dark hair, large expressive eyes, and a really wide, bright smile which he gives out freely to all the customers. Chan watches him joking with one of the other customers, feeling like he’s missing a big piece of something he knows about Seungcheol. He knows that he goes to school at Pledis, majoring in something related to music. He knows Seungcheol is friendly and open-minded and kind and that he always remembers Chan’s name when they see each other at the café, even when Soonyoung isn’t there. He’s even learned that Seungcheol is from Daegu and that he has one older brother from the limited conversations they’ve together over the past few months that Chan has been part of Soonyoung’s team. As Chan watches Seungcheol interact with another waiter with light brown hair, Seungcheol’s smile grows and a blush appears on his cheeks, and it clicks.

 

Oh, right. Yoon Jeonghan. Jeonghan is a waiter at Say the Name too, as well as another one of Soonyoung’s friends. It is well known, even to Chan, that Seungcheol has a big crush on Jeonghan. Seungcheol had always been rather obvious with his feelings and though he has only ever evaded the question when someone asked if he liked his co-worker, the longing glances and uncharacteristic bubbly giggles that erupt from Seungcheol in the other's presence serve to most as answer enough. Chan would have felt like his first assignment was almost too easy if that was all there was to it. He could just shoot Jeonghan with an arrow to make him notice Seungcheol, they’d start talking, fall in love, and Chan would be done in less than a week. But no, it couldn’t be that easy. Because however many people knew about Seungcheol’s big dumb crush on Jeonghan, just as many knew it was completely hopeless because Jeonghan has a very handsome, very public, boyfriend. Lee Seokmin.

 

The very same Lee Seokmin who is currently pulling Yoon Jeonghan by the hand to a secluded corner of the café to sneak a few kisses in before Jeonghan's break ends. Chan catches Seungcheol looking at the couple from behind the counter before quickly turning away, ears bright red and a fresh pout on his lips. Right. This might be more difficult than Chan originally thought. 

 

Chan is promptly brought out of his inner dialogue by a straw wrapper hitting him squarely between the eyes.

 

“Earth to Chan,” Minghao sing-songs, grinning at the scowl forming on Chan’s features.

 

“Channie, you seem off today,” Soonyoung says, balling up his own straw wrapper to throw at Chan’s chest.

 

Chan shrugs, halfheartedly tossing the straw wrapper back at Soonyoung from where it fell in his lap. “It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

 

Minghao makes an ‘I don’t believe you’ face before scooching his chair toward Chan. “You were distracted all during practice and just now you were staring at Seunghcheol-hyung like he kicked a puppy or something.”

 

Chan rolls his eyes. “It’s really nothing, just…school.”

 

Luckily, as a new college student, Chan can wave off any unwanted curiosity about his Romantic Duties by truthfully saying he is stressed with his schoolwork.

 

Soonyoung nods sympathetically, easily convinced, but Minghao continues to scrutinize Chan with his gaze. Chan doesn’t like Minghao’s look so he feels the need to keep going.

 

“My parents are pressuring me to do well,” Chan explains, telling the truth. Even Cupids need a college degree in this day and age.  “And I haven’t even declared a major yet, so they want me to focus on what I want to do.”

 

“You should declare dance, Channie!” Soonyoung says, playfully batting his eyelashes at Chan. “You’re already better than half the dance majors on campus.”

 

Chan shrugs again. He would be flattered by the compliment if Soonyoung hadn't told him that at least three times daily since Chan joined Per4mance. “I’m not sure yet.”

 

“Well what else are you thinking about declaring?” Minghao asks.

 

Chan wracks his brain. Besides dance, there’s nothing much he’s interested in. “Uh…business? I could do a lot with a business degree, right?”

 

“You’re asking the wrong person,” Soonyoung grins. “But I think Cheol-hyung is getting his master’s in business or something. I could ask him to show you around the department!”

 

Chan is about to vehemently deny Soonyoung’s offer, because honestly, business sounds awful to Chan who has zero interest in the economy and money and whatever else business majors learn about. But out of the corner of his eye he sees Seungcheol making his way over to the dancers with their food, and he stops himself. Business may be at the bottom of Chan’s list of possible majors, but spending some time with Seungcheol one-on-one might help Chan to get to know the older boy better. And getting to know Seungcheol better would help a lot with his assignment. 

 

“Actually, hyung, could you? My mom might lay off if she knew I looked into at least one program,” Chan admits, eyeing Soonyoung cautiously. Soonyoung just beams.

 

"Your wish is my command, Channie."

 

“Hey guys, here’s your food,” Seungcheol interrupts, placing their sandwiches down in front of them with a friendly smile.

 

"Hyung!" Soonyoung pipes up when Seungcheol makes to leave. "I need a favor!"

 

"After last time? I don't think so Kwon Soonyoung. My favorite doormat got stolen, the one with the puppy paw prints? It was my  _favorite._ Never again," Seungcheol says, grinning playfully down at the senior.

 

Soonyoung pouts, jutting out his bottom lip with fervor. Chan inherently finds himself transfixed by Soonyoung's inability to feel shame at being a grown man pouting at another grown man openly in a restaurant.

 

"It was just a doormat, hyung!" Soonyoung whines. Seungcheol just shakes his head with his arms crossed. 

 

"It was my favorite and now its gone, all because of  _you._ "

 

"Fine,  _Chan_ needs a favor," Soonyoung concedes, nudging his chin at Chan.

 

"Should've said that in the first place," Seungcheol says, turning to the freshman. "What do you need, Chan?"

 

"Oh-uh...I haven't declared a major yet and my parents have been bugging me to pick one and Soonyoung-hyung said you know about business?" Chan finishes in a question, looking to Minghao for help. Minghao just stares back at Chan, his cheeks stuffed with food. 

 

"Chan was wondering if he could talk to you about whatever it was that you major in since he only knows about the dance program, right Chan?" Soonyoung pipes up. Chan nods fervently.

 

He doesn't understand why he's suddenly so shy around Seungcheol. He knows him well enough to call him hyung and has held quite a few conversations with him in the recent weeks. Maybe the knowledge that Seungcheol is his assignment is getting to him. After all, Chan will be prying into Seungcheol's private life pretty intimately in the near future. He can't afford to get squeamish now.  

 

"Sure, Chan, I'd be glad to help. Let me give you my number so we can set up a time," Seungcheol holds his hand out and Chan gives his phone over willingly, watching dumbly as Seungcheol enters his number. "I'm free in the afternoons and most weekends. Let me know what works for you."

 

"Cool, thanks hyung," Chan squeaks. He wasn't expecting to get Seungcheol's number, but now that he has it, he figures it's a pretty good in for future investigating.

 

Chan remains distracted throughout the meal, though neither Soonyoung nor Minghao seem to want to point it out. In fact, the whole rest of their dinner seems oddly silent. Minghao keeps his head down and is engrossed in his phone, and if he didn't know better, he might think that Soonyoung is jealous of Chan for getting Seungcheol's number. Soonyoung keeps sending Seungcheol these looks that almost seem like glares, if someone like Soonyoung could actually glare at a person. Soonyoung is too cute to glare with any venom. No, Soonyoung can't be jealous. He probably just has indigestion again. 

 

Mostly ignoring Soonyoung and Minghao, he keeps tabs on Seungcheol, watching him interact with customers and with Jeonghan, trying to come up with a plan. Jeonghan makes a scene when Seokmin leaves, throwing his arms around his boyfriend and giving him a kiss in the middle of the café. Seungcheol looks like a kicked puppy for the rest of the night while Jeonghan seems to float on air. Ultimately, Chan comes up with nothing that won't involve a little digging and some serious match-making.  Seungcheol’s love life will have to remain bleak for a little while longer.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the formatting looks stupid or if you find any mistakes...it's 3am and I'm exhausted but I needed to post this because my brain told me to so...let me know if anything needs to be fixed!
> 
> PS A pistol crossbow is exactly what it sounds like; it looks like a crossbow but the trigger and handle are like a pistol? (I just googled crossbows and that type looked cool so that's what I chose haaa) it can appear and disappear at his will...convenient, am I right?
> 
> PPS In my head Chan's cupid database thing is a cross between facebook and a dating site? He can see his assignment's profile and look up other people's profiles but he's the one doing all the matchmaking bits and the people being matchmade (matchmaked? matchmakees? i'm tired wow) don't know their profiles exist...just a way for Chan to know a bit about what's going on in their heads (without him seeming like a mind reading stalker)
> 
> PPPS I know he didn't even show up yet but I couldn't resist with the "height difference" thing...wonder who could be Seungcheol's match hmmmmm?? (though i'm only 5' 1'' on a good day so everyone is literally a giant to me)
> 
> PPPPS Jeonghan and Seokmin is a ship I didn't know I loved until recently, they are seriously very cute together love them thanks 
> 
> PPPPPS someone actually stole my doormat last year...whoever robbed me of my "wipe your paws" welcome mat is a monster and no, i'm not over it that shit was cute


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to update weekly but my spring break week didn't turn out very break-y...so enjoy!

 

Step one in Cupid training is to get to know the assignment. After all, in order to make a good decision about the love life of a person, you should know them pretty well. As a Cupid, there are a few ways to go about this.

 

The first method, sometimes jokingly referred to as the stalker method, consists of the Cupid turning invisible and following the assignment around  their daily lives in order to get to know the “real” them. This method is used a lot, especially on foreign assignments. (Although Cupids can understand every spoken language, it is sometimes hard to speak it themselves. Plus, being inconspicuous is kind of the whole point and in some areas of the world, a Korean teenager trailing after someone would become quite, well, conspicuous.)

 

With the second method, not as often used, the Cupid gets to know the assignment in their physical, see-able form. Humans often call this “becoming friends” with someone. Some Cupids don’t like this method because they only get to know the assignment as they present themselves to the world, not their real inner self. But Chan thinks this method can be really useful, especially when you already know the assignment and some of the assignment’s friends. They will probably continue to cross paths in the future, so there is no point in Chan turning down Seungcheol’s offer to have lunch and talk about different majors. This way, he can get to know Seungcheol as a hyung and not just as an assignment. If he has to do the whole invisible creeper thing, he will, but Chan has never been comfortable encroaching on people’s privacy that way. So at least for this one he’ll just stick around in his visible form and see what happens. And hopefully, he’ll find someone else to occupy Seungcheol’s romantic interests because his scant research on Jeonghan and his boyfriend does not look very promising for Seungcheol’s future.

 

That Saturday Chan finds himself rushing around his dorm before being picked up by Seungcheol. They’re just going to the dining hall on campus, but Seungcheol had been adamant about driving Chan the short distance from his dorm. He had just spent the last few hours with the dance team perfecting a performance for the showcase in a month and he probably should have taken a shower or maybe even a nap before going with Seungcheol, but Chan figured he should use his precious free time wisely. So instead, he had accompanied Minghao to the café for a coffee after practice so he could spy on Jeonghan, his only solid lead on a match for Seungcheol.

 

Jeonghan was, thankfully, on duty and Seokmin was there again, too, sitting at a small table in the corner while typing away on his laptop. It did not take long for Chan to rule out Jeonghan entirely. The way he looked at Seokmin, as if he was something entirely too precious to be on this earth every time he went over to check on him during a lull in customers, was almost as distracting as the way Seokmin sweetly smiled back at Jeonghan, always giving his boyfriend his full attention when he probably should have been focused on whatever paper he’s writing. There was no way he could break up a couple that in love without feeling awful. Yeah, Jeonghan wouldn’t work. Chan would need to find someone else.

 

Chan ditches Minghao to run back to his dorm when he realizes it was almost time to meet with Seungcheol. Minghao doesn’t seem to mind, content on lazily scrolling through his phone while sipping at his tea, and only throwing a half-hearted wave as Chan practically runs from the café. (He figures Minghao might mind later when he realizes Chan hadn’t paid for his coffee. Oh well, that’s what hyungs are for, right?) Chan can’t really do more than pull a beanie over his still-sweaty-from-practice hair and roll on an extra layer of deodorant before his phone pings with a text that Seungcheol is outside.

 

How a person treats their car, Chan thinks, is a good indicator of the owner’s personality. Seungcheol’s car is old and a little beat up on the outside; it could definitely use a new coat of paint and there’s a dent in the back bumper. But the interior is rather neat, there’s no clutter except for what looks to be Seungcheol’s gym bag in the backseat and one of those windshield ice scraper things on the floor at Chan’s feet. His car smells good too, just like an ocean breeze that the air freshener hanging from his rear view mirror advertises. To Chan, all this means that Seungcheol doesn’t care much about appearances though is conscious of how he presents himself, is very obviously organized and inviting to others. Seungcheol is blaring some obscure hip hop artist when Chan hops in, smile on his face as always when he sees Chan and a loud greeting spilling from his lips.

 

They chitchat on the ride to the dining hall. Seungcheol asks about dance practice, Chan asks about work. They had planned to talk about school and possible majors for Chan over lunch, maybe tour some of the other buildings on campus if they have time. Though it was Saturday and neither of them had classes, Seungcheol has some sort of project he was procrastinating on and Chan has work in the evening.

 

Anyway, Chan is expecting to spend some one on one time with Seungcheol, and is actually kind of excited about it. He feels like he might actually get somewhere with this assignment after getting a better read on Seungcheol, and if he actually has any advice to offer to Chan about picking a major, well that’s just a bonus.

 

So he’s actually kind of upset when they get out of Seungcheol’s car and immediately run into Soonyoung. And of course it’s Soonyoung, someone that no matter how hard you try to hint at that you kind of don’t want him around, will eventually win you over with his stupid big eyes and his award-winning pout. It’s annoying, really, how Soonyoung lights up at the sight of Seungcheol and Chan and immediately begs them to eat lunch with him.

 

Seungcheol shoots Chan a look that says _its up to you_. But is it really up to Chan when Soonyoung is literally dancing in front of him repeatedly chanting “please Channie, please Channie”? (Hint, it’s not.) Chan shrugs and Soonyoung cheers.

 

“Thanks Chan, I always knew you were my favorite!” Soonyoung shouts, immediately flinging an arm around Chan’s shoulders and situating himself between Chan and Seungcheol.

 

And just like that, Chan's "one on one time with Seungcheol" plan flies out the window.

 

The three of them make the trek up the hill to the dining hall. Any leftover awkwardness between Chan and Seungcheol is broken by Soonyoung’s boisterous presence. Maybe having him here won’t be that bad after all, Chan thinks when Seungcheol lets out a loud laugh. Maybe Soonyoung can help tear down any of Seungcheol's emotional walls.

 

And just when that thought bubbles up to the forefront of his mind, Soonyoung starts screaming and runs forward to tackle a tall, lanky boy that had literally frozen mid step and the sound of Soonyoung’s screech.

 

Chan watches warily as Soonyoung drags the serious-looking guy towards them, wire-framed glasses perched on his nose not doing anything to hide his look of discomfort. Chan can commiserate.

 

“Channie, this is my roommate Wonwoo. Wonwoo, this is Chan from my dance group,” Soonyoung introduces to them. Wonwoo squints at Chan behind his glasses.

 

“Your protégé?” Wonwoo questions.

 

“The one and only,” Soonyoung says proudly, re-wrapping an arm around Chan’s shoulders. Chan grimaces, trying to shove Soonyoung’s arm off and Wonwoo laughs, deep and loud. His protégé? Since fucking when? The thought makes him feel ill, which is why he starts blushing. Yep, definitely ill. Gross.

 

“Hey hyung,” Wonwoo greets Seungcheol, who nods back.

 

“You guys mind if he joins us for lunch? Wonwoo doesn't actually have friends."

 

Chan shakes his head after enjoying seeing Wonwoo pinch his roommate for that comment. First of all, it would be rude to refuse, and seeing as Soonyoung had already wormed his way into this, what does it matter that one more person joined them?

 

“I also invited Jihoonie, I hope you guys don’t mind. He wouldn’t leave his room if it wasn’t for me or food,” Soonyoung throws over his shoulder as he leads them into the dining hall.

 

Of fucking course. Chan barely suppresses the urge to hit something, namely Soonyoung. Why does he always get in the way of things?

 

Chan soon finds himself helpless. He can do nothing but follow the others through the mass of people as Soonyoung makes a bee-line to a large booth at the back of the building.

 

There’s someone already sitting there, face obscured by the phone in his hands, but Chan assumes it is the aforementioned ‘Jihoonie’, because he just grunts when Soonyoung throws himself on top him and doesn’t look up from his phone.

 

“Jihoonie, look! I brought my mini-me for you to meet!” Soonyoung sing-songs as he begins to shake the smaller man underneath him. Soonyoung shakes him so much that the phone slips from Jihoon’s fingers onto the table and he’s forced to look up.

 

“Oh…people.”

 

“Yeah, people! I know you probably haven’t seen many in the past 24 hours, but this is what they look like now! You know Wonwoo and Seungcheol-hyung. This is Lee Chan, the kid from my dance team I told you about.”

 

Jihoon nods his head at Wonwoo and Seungcheol and attempts to wave at Chan, but Soonyoung’s body is making it hard for him to move. Sadly, Chan knows the feeling all too well. Sometimes Soonyoung just goes all octopus on people, like after dance practice, or in the middle of busy dining halls. Soonyoung grins and shifts, making Jihoon’s whole head dip beneath the table.

 

“Hosh, I think you’re squishing Jihoon,” Seungcheol says, scooting into the booth across from where Soonyoung is still splayed over Jihoon. Wonwoo slips in next to Seungcheol, which leaves Chan with the options of sitting next to a practical stranger or Soonyoung, who is finally untangling his limbs from Jihoon’s. Chan sits on the edge of the booth beside Wonwoo, figuring he’s probably the lesser of two evils at the moment.

 

Soonyoung pouts at him when he realizes Chan isn’t sitting next to him, but a grumble from the maknae’s stomach reminds everyone why they’re there. They shuffle out of the booth to get food from the buffet and shuffle back, plates piled high.

 

Despite being introduced as Soonyoung’s friends, Chan thinks that Seungcheol gets along pretty well with Wonwoo and Jihoon. They all trade insults back and forth easily and have a natural banter that is sometimes hard for Chan to follow. They must know each other pretty well if they can joke around with each other like this, throwing in bits about their other friends or a professor that Chan doesn’t know, but the rest of them get it and can throw their heads back and laugh in almost perfect unison.

 

He thinks back to what Seungcheol’s profile said about his preferences. Both Wonwoo and Jihoon seem to be potential matches. They are both passionate about their work and neither of them was boastful about their accomplishments. Of course, those things are only on the surface of a deeper connection, but at least it would be a start. Chan briefly contemplates matching Seungcheol with Soonyoung, but disregards it quickly. Soonyoung and Seungcheol are friends. He doesn’t see any attraction there.

 

Seungcheol sits close next to Wonwoo, and neither seem to be bothered and shy away when they brush arms or bump their shoulders together. Their close proximity and relative ease with each other’s presence could hint at a deeper bond between the two. But sometimes, Chan can catch Seungcheol’s eyes linger on Jihoon when he laughs and his whole face lights up. Every time Jihoon laughs and his eyes scrunch up and he hits the thing closest to him (mostly Soonyoung) it makes Seungcheol smile a little brighter. Anyone could see that there might be _something_ there. But is that _something_ enough to develop into love?

 

As they’re finishing their meal, Chan still hasn’t made any decisions. He needs to make a decision to move forward with this assignment, he really has no other choice. Other than let Seungcheol be single for the rest of his life, of course. He lets out a big sigh at the thought. Why is love so hard?

 

Chan is so immersed in his thoughts that he practically forgets his cover story fore being here in the first place. Seungcheol doesn’t forget apparently, and eventually steers the conversation back toward its original purpose.

 

 “So Chan,” Seungcheol asks, peering around Wonwoo so that he can look at the boy in question. Chan whips his head up at the mention of his name. “What kinds of things are you interested in majoring in?”

 

“Um, I’m not really sure,” he replies, picking at the leftover vegetables on his plate.

 

Soonyoung looks offended.

 

“I love dance, just, I don’t know if it’s what my parents think is entirely…practical?” Chan clarifies to pacify the other dancer.

 

It’s true. Chan’s parents aren’t exactly thrilled with Chan’s aspirations to become a dancer. Being a Cupid takes up a lot of time and dance is also time-consuming and physically exhausting. Plus, the odds of actually becoming successful are pretty slim. But it’s what Chan loves, so at least his mom is starting to understand. His dad though…well, he’s trying.

 

“We’re arts students, none of what we’re doing is practical,” Jihoon says, smirking and raising an eyebrow at Chan. The others laugh at that and Chan only finds it somewhat concerning that none of them seem worried about their future job prospects.

 

“What do you do?” Chan directs his question at Jihoon.

 

“I’m a composer. I write music, mostly pop songs,” the older boy replies.

 

“He’s really good. We’ve even used some of his songs for routines for Per4mance, Chan,” Soonyoung says, grinning when Jihoon ducks his head in embarrassment. Chan remembers Soonyoung proudly proclaiming that his friend had composed the track that he was thinking about taking to a competition in a few months.

 

“No way, you wrote _Lilili Yabbay_?” Chan asks incredulously. He hates to sound like a teenage fan boy, but honestly he can’t help it. The song is amazing.

 

Jihoon nods, moving one hand to massage the back of his neck while his cheeks turn a pale shade of pink.

 

“Don’t look so embarrassed, Jihoon. You normally love to brag about your composing skills,” Soonyoung teases.

 

“I do not!” Jihoon must kick Soonyoung from under the table because Soonyoung yelps and grabs for his ankle.

 

“That _hurts_ you fucker!” Soonyoung whines, massaging his ankle. “I’m a dancer! My legs are my money makers!”

 

“Well my self-doubt and anxiety are mine! It’s what makes me spends hours in the studio going over the same 8 beats until its perfect, and then I still freak out about it until someone yells at me to leave it alone,” Jihoon grumbles after sticking his tongue out at Soonyoung.

 

Wonwoo snorts into his noodles before nodding sympathetically. “Same. I hate when anyone reads my shit if I haven’t checked it at least a thousand times.”

 

“I can relate, honestly,” Seungcheol adds sadly.  “All of the professors in the music department are harsh. I once submitted a sample to Professor Yang and she totally ripped it apart.”

 

“I fucking hate Yang, I hope a piano falls on her,” Jihoon agrees.

 

“Wait Seungcheol-hyung, I thought you were getting a business degree?” Chan asks before the upperclassmen can go on another rant about the apparently crappy faculty at the school or to act out their violent fantasies about said faculty.

 

Seungcheol nods. “Music business. It combines the creativity of the music industry with the practicality of the business world.”

 

Chan hums. Maybe he could do something like Seungcheol, combine something he loves with something else that would make sense and potentially earn him money.

 

“Do you actually want to pursue dance seriously?”

 

Chan is surprised to hear Wonwoo ask the question and he might be more surprised that the answer is bursting out of his mouth practically without his consent.

 

“Yeah,” Chan admits. “I think I do.”

 

Chan can’t help but notice Soonyoung’s grin from across the table.

 

“It might be good to declare dance if you’re serious about it and shop around for either a second major or a minor if you’re still feeling wary about it,” Seungcheol advises.

 

Wonwoo nods along. “I’m double majoring in literature and accounting. It’s a weird combination but I love literature and my dad wanted me to actually get a job when I graduate.”

 

“That…that makes sense. Thanks Wonwoo-ssi.”

 

“Hyung is fine,” Wonwoo says, not even bothering to look up from his plate. A soft smile fights its way onto Chan’s face.

 

“Thanks, Wonwoo-hyung. I love dancing but I don’t know if I’m confident enough to not have a backup plan.”

 

“But Chan, you’re the best dancer in your year and you’re not even a dance major yet,” Soonyoung pouts. “Why do you need a backup plan? I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but dance.”

 

“But what if you get injured or something?” Chan asks.

 

“Then I’ll choreograph,” Soonyoung says simply. “It would suck if I couldn’t dance, but I honestly can’t see a future for me anywhere outside of the studio, smelly as it is.”

 

Chan admires Soonyoung’s confidence, even if it’s not entirely sensible. He wishes he could have that much faith in himself and his abilities to just dance without feeling any guilt that he should be doing something more stable with his career.

 

 “Gross,” Jihoon grumbles as he gives Soonyoung a truly withering grimace. But when he turns to Chan, his face is completely serious. “Just don’t give up on something you love for something that can make you money. Not to be stereotypical or anything but money doesn’t buy happiness and all that.”

 

“As spoken by a true lyricist,” Soonyoung teases. “Really Jihoon, I continue to be floored by your inspired prose.”

 

Jihoon barely manages a “fuck off” before Soonyoung engages him in some sort of weird poking war with his friend.

 

“Thanks for the advice, hyungs,” Chan finds himself saying, ignoring Soonyoung’s shrieks of laughter to look at Seungcheol and Wonwoo. “I’ll think about it.”

 

Wonwoo nods, giving Chan a fond smile. “Don’t mention it.”

 

After they finish chatting (Soonyoung and Jihoon had continued to pick fights with each other, which Chan soon figures out is something that just happens when the two are together), Seungcheol offers to drive Chan back to his dorm. They all cheerfully part ways, leaving Chan with a reminder for the next dance rehearsal from Soonyoung and a phone number each from Wonwoo and Jihoon.

 

“I don’t know if today helped at all,” Seungcheol says from the driver’s seat. “I know Soonyoung didn’t mean to hijack our lunch.”

 

“Didn’t he?” Chan can’t help but mumble.

 

Seungcheol chuckles. “He can be a bit…much sometimes. But he means well, you know?”

 

Chan shrugs. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he knows Soonyoung does mean well. He always means well. That’s just who Soonyoung is.

 

Seungcheol pulls up to the curb outside of the dorm to drop Chan off. Despite spending more time with Seungcheol in one day than he probably had for two whole months, he can’t help but feel that he accomplished nothing for his assignment today. He hesitates before he gets out of the car.

 

“Would it be okay to text you again about school stuff?” he asks slowly. This could be his last chance before he has to go stalker-mode on Seungcheol.

 

“Of course!” Seungcheol responds immediately, much to Chan's relief. “Actually, me and Soonyoung and the gang usually meet up on Friday nights to drink and play games and shit. You should come around some time. A lot of the guys major in different stuff, and I’m sure they’d love to help Soonyoung’s protégé.”

 

“Am I ever going to live that down?” Chan groans. Why does Soonyoung have to be so weird?

 

“Nope,” Seungcheol grins. Chan rolls his eyes.

 

“Bye hyung, thanks for today.”

 

“No problem. See ‘ya later Channie.”

 

Maybe he didn’t make much progress on his assignment today, but Chan thinks he might have found a pretty good hyung out of this whole mess. Maybe he even found a few.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its a lame ending but I'm tired. I have no idea what a music business degree actually is, just go with it I don't think it will really influence the plot. Speaking of the plot, we're getting there slowly...hang on! Any thoughts?
> 
> Let me know if there's anything I can fix/clarify! I am posting this on less than four hours of sleep, which I do not advise I feel like a zombie.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live!

 

“Chan, I haven’t seen you in a week!”

 

Chan turns his head to the source of the voice as he shuts the door behind him. It’s his roommate, which shouldn’t be surprising because neither of them really brings other people over to their shared dorm and Hansol spends a lot of his evenings in. Unlike the scene from a few weeks ago, this time Hansol's books and notebooks are spread across his bed and Hansol himself is lying on the floor with a pillow under his head and his laptop propped on his stomach. It can’t be comfortable, but then again, it could be a new Hansol-approved studying trick.

 

“I literally saw you this morning,” Chan grumbles, toeing off his shoes. He’s definitely sure he saw his roommate before he headed out this morning for a grueling day of back-to-back lectures, club meetings, and impromptu dance practices. At least he’s pretty sure; he hadn’t been entirely cognizant at 7:30 in the morning.

 

“That doesn’t count,” Hansol complains from behind the computer screen. “We weren’t engaged in conversation.” He sets the computer on the floor and sits up, looking impatiently up at Chan.

 

“Yeah we were,” Chan counters, thinking hard and gripping the shoulder straps of his backpack. “You asked if I was done in the bathroom and I said yes.”

 

Hansol pouts. “That’s not a real conversation.”

 

Chan sighs and forgets about getting a head start on his homework because he’s obviously not going to get any of it done now with Hansol being like this, whatever ‘this’ is. But he does throw his backpack at the foot of his bed and sits at his desk to turn his lap top on and open his e-mail. He gets about fifty million e-mails a day and if he doesn’t sift through it at least twice a day, it becomes an endless stream of campus announcements it becomes tiresome to delete in one sitting.

 

“What do you want?” he asks as he opens his most recent e-mail. It’s a campus announcement with an attachment to the university newsletter that no one ever reads. He doesn’t even know why he opens it because he knows he’s not going to read it before he quickly hits the delete button.

 

“Want? _Want?_ What do you mean? What could I possibly want?” Hansol squeaks dramatically, drawing Chan’s attention away from his computer. He throws his hands in the air and does his best to look affronted. It doesn’t work. Chan turns back to his e-mails.

 

“I repeat, what do you want?” Chan hasn’t known Hansol for all that long (only about 2 months) but he knows him enough to know when he wants something.

 

“Can’t I just enjoy some quality conversation with my favorite dongsaeng?”

 

“Not usually, no,” Chan says drily. He marks all of the campus announcements for the trash and deletes seven in one go, enjoying a bit of the tension in between his shoulders ease away as he does so. It’s very fulfilling.

 

Hansol huffs. Chan tries to ignore Hansol slowly inching his way toward Chan in his desk chair. And he mostly succeeds until Hansol’s big stupid head is right in front of his nose, blocking Chan’s view of his inbox. He barely restrains the urge to fling himself across the room in disgust and instead shoves Hansol’s face away. His roommate hits the ground with a satisfying thud.

 

“Chan, I’m hungry!” Hansol whines from the floor.

 

“So?”

 

“Come eat with me!”

 

“No.”

 

“I’ll buy you something!”

 

"...okay."

 

They end up at _Say the Name_ , partly because Chan wants to see if Seungcheol is working, partly because Hansol is craving one of their smoothies. Chan still hasn’t made any progress in finding Seungcheol a match, and if Chan is being completely honest, it’s getting frustrating. It turns out that Seungcheol isn’t there but at least Hansol gets a smoothie.

 

“So what’s up with you lately?” Hansol asks. He accentuates his question with a loud slurp of his strawberry smoothie. His  _second_ strawberry smoothie. He had downed the first one while they ate and ordered a second one right after. Now he's making Chan sit with him at the café while he finishes his smoothie because he can't (or won't) ask a waiter to put it in a to-go cup.

 

“School, work, dance. The usual,” Chan says. Only half of his attention is on his unusually needy roommate because the other half is focused on his phone. He’s recently taken to scrolling through the Cupid database, looking for potential matches for Seungcheol close by. Nothing catches his eye, but at least he feels like he’s accomplishing something, narrowing down the choices if only by a small margin. Mostly though, he just finds out that there's a lot of single people of all orientations on campus. So, not very helpful.

 

“You seem different, though. More stressed.”

 

Chan looks up at Hansol, then, carefully meeting his gaze. He looks cautious, a tinge of worry hidden away in the furrow of his eyebrows.

 

“Don’t worry about me, hyung. It’s nothing,” Chan tries to wave it off as nonchalantly as possible.

 

“You sure?" Hansol questions. "You can let me know if anything is bothering you. I know I had a tough time adjusting during my freshman year. I started out fine but halfway through the first semester I started missing home and started isolating myself.”

 

“I’m fine. I just have some extra homework. That’s all,” Chan tries to shrug off his concern. Really, he doesn’t need it, not this concerned responsible older roommate role Hansol seems eager to suddenly play.

 

Sure, maybe he’s a little more stressed now that he’s an active Cupid, but he’s figuring it out as he goes. He doesn’t need Hansol or his dance hyungs giving him worried looks and constantly asking if he’s eating enough or sleeping well. It’s getting tiring and he really doesn’t want to get a lecture from Hansol right now as well. Chan steels himself, getting ready to ease Hansol’s worries, but a shadow falls over the table, quickly followed by a sharp voice.

 

“Lee Chan, you need to talk to your mother!”

 

Chan turns, surprised by the voice. Boo Seungkwan is towering over the table, phone in hand and scowl on his face.

 

“Hello to you, too, hyung,” Chan says drily. It’s just his luck that another annoying hyung has turned up to pester him to death.

 

“ _Your_ mother has been nagging _my_ mother to check up on you because apparently _you_ haven’t called her in a week,” Seungkwan complains. He flings himself into the open seat next to Chan. “I went home last weekend like the filial son I am and your parents loaded me up with food to give to you and like a brat, _you_ haven’t been answering my texts.”

 

“Sorry, hyung, I’ve been busy,” Chan says, feeling only a little guilty. He makes a mental note to go through his texts and call his mother later after he finishes his homework.

 

Seungkwan huffs and shakes his head at Chan before taking a second to look around at his surroundings. The older boy suddenly seems to notice that Chan is not sitting at the table alone.

 

“Oh my gosh, hey Hansol. I didn’t see you there.”

 

Seungkwan’s entire demeanor changes when he addresses the other boy. He paints a huge smile on his face and sits up straighter, all traces of annoyance and whiney tinge to his voice completely gone. Hansol shifts too. His cheeks turn bright red and he runs his hands through his hair a few times. It makes his once nicely-styled hair now look a little deranged.

 

“Hi Seungkwan,” Hansol manages to squeak out, bowing his head a little. Seungkwan beams wider.

 

Chan watches the entire exchange in a mild state of confusion. Never has he seen either of his hyungs interact with each other or act so strangely in general. There must be something weird going on here. Chan clears his throat, bringing the attention back to him. Their eyes snap to him, oozing annoyance and Chan almost flinches.

 

“Oh, you know Chan?” Seungkwan asks Hansol sweetly.

 

Hansol nods. Chan notices that Hansol can’t meet Seungkwan’s eyes.

 

“We’re roommates.”

 

“Ah, I grew up next to Channie,” Seungkwan supplies with a giggle.

 

“Cool,” Hansol nods again, looking pained.

 

As much as he loves his friends’ increasingly awkward interaction, Chan decides to take pity on Hansol, who now looks like he might explode with embarrassment. Seungkwan just grins almost maliciously back.

 

“Uh, hyung? Do you want me to go get the stuff my mom gave you now or…” he trails off, still watching them both carefully.

 

“Now would be great!” Seungkwan beams, finally shifting his attention away from Hansol.

 

“See you later, Hansol-hyung, thanks for the food,” Chan waves at his distressed roommate while simultaneously ushering Seungkwan out of the café before Hansol catches fire or something.

 

“What was that?” Chan asks as soon as they’re out of earshot.

 

“What do you mean?” Seungkwan asks, acting nonchalant. He takes the lead, walking quickly in the direction of his dorm so that Chan has to jog a little to catch up.

 

“You and Hansol,” he clarifies.

 

“It’s nothing.” Seungkwan waves his hand and tries to ignore Chan by checking his phone. Chan won’t have it, though, because that was weird. He’s known Seungkwan for practically his whole life and while they’ve never been really close, he’s never seen Seungkwan act that way before. Almost predatory. Gross. _Weird._

 

“No, it was weird.”

 

Seungkwan ignores him, engrossed in his phone. Chan, urged on by curiosity or maybe stupidity, grabs at Seungkan’s phone and successfully wrestles it out of the sophomore’s grip. Seungkwan glares but doesn’t try to take it back. Chan raises his eyebrows in question.

 

Seungkwan sighs. “I did something stupid at a party last year and Hansol is still embarrassed about it, apparently.”

 

Interesting. That doesn’t really explain anything, though.

 

Seungkwan puts his hand out, palm up, clearly asking for his phone. Grudgingly, Chan complies. Happy, Seungkwan takes off at top speed again, leaving Chan in his dust.

 

They reach Seungkwan’s dorm, only a few buildings away from the dorm Chan shares with Hansol. Seungkwan swipes into the building and tries to close the door so Chan can’t follow, but Chan knows Seungkwan’s tricks and puts his foot in the door. It hurts, but at least he’s in.

 

He follows Seungkwan down the corridor and up some stairs.

 

“Is that how you met hyung?” he pries as Seungkwan keys into his room.

 

“No, we—“

 

Seungkwan is interrupted from answering by a loud shriek coming from somewhere inside his dorm. Chan trades a surprised look with Seungkwan before darting inside.

 

Chan realizes a few things at once. The first thing he realizes is that he’s never seen Seungkwan’s dorm room before. He’s never had a reason to go to Seungkwan’s dorm, even though Seungkwan helped Chan move into his own. So it’s kind of weird that the first time he’s in here, it’s because of his mom and not because they were going to hang out. The dorm itself nothing special, it’s almost an exact replica of the one that he shares with Hansol, but there is something entirely Seungkwan about it. There’s posters of k-pop bands tacked to the walls and a lot of fluffy blankets and pillows spread over Seungkwan’s bed that Chan recognizes seeing in his room back home.

 

The second thing he realizes is Seungkwan’s roommate, sitting on the bed across from Seungkwan’s wearing an expression of surprise and slight embarrassment. Chan realizes he never knew, never even asked, whose Seungkwan’s roommate is. And Chan realizes, as Seungkwan marches over to the roommate and examines the lap top screen he didn’t notice was propped open on the bed, that he recognizes the roommate that blinks widely at him from behind a blanket pulled up to cover the bottom half of his face.

 

Upon inspecting the lap top, Seungkwan rolls his eyes. “Seokmin, what have I told you about watching horror movies by yourself?”

 

Seokmin looks sheepish and lowers the blanket. “To not?”

 

“Exactly. So why the fuck are you watching fucking _Annabelle_ by yourself?”

 

“I was bored and Hannie recommended it to me,” Seokmin mumbles.

 

“Oh my god, why would you listen to him? He’s an idiot.”

 

“He is not! He said he wanted to watch it together so that he could hold me if I got scared,” Seokmin starts, eyeing  Seungkwan carefully. “But I didn’t want him to think I was a scaredy-cat so I thought I’d watch it by myself first so that I wouldn’t be so, uh, jumpy about the jump scares.”

 

Seungkwan sighs deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I don’t even know where to start with you…but you nearly gave me and Chan a heart attack with your screaming, so great job with that, Seok."

 

Seokmin turns to wave meekly at Chan, who’d been hovering near the door during the exchange. Chan waves back awkwardly when Seokmin tilts his head in recognition.

 

“Hey, I know you,” Seokmin says, peering at Chan.

 

Chan just shrugs his shoulders and doesn’t say anything because he doesn’t trust himself to not tell Seokmin that he’s poured over Seokmin’s Cupid database profile and stalked his relationship with Jeonghan with fervor looking for any signs of weakness.

 

“I’ve seen you around Hannie’s café I think,” Seokmin continues, “with some of those guys from the dance department.”

 

“Huh, that’s just where I found him with—uh,“ Seungkwan stutters, glancing at Seokmin then back at Chan, "uh—got a fixation with that place or something?” 

 

“No,” Chan answers, “but Seungkwan-hyung, I think we should talk about Hans—“

 

“HEY!” Seungkwan yells, practically leaping at Chan to slap his hand over his mouth. “You’re just here to get your food, I don’t want to keep you!”

 

In one swift motion, Seungkwan shoves Chan towards the door, lunges to the fridge and pulls out a plastic bag filled with various containers of food, and thrusts the bag in Chan’s arms. Chan barely has time to register Seokmin’s puzzled “Nice to meet you!” before he’s being pushed from the dorm and banned, on pain of death, from talking to Seokmin ever again.

 

 

When Chan gets back to his dorm for the second time that day, he finds Hansol in the same position on the floor as earlier. He’s tempted to ask his roommate about his weird interaction with Seungkwan, but he doesn’t want to strain their own relationship. Plus, he’s only obligated to interfere in the love lives of certain people and, thankfully, Hansol isn’t one of them.

 

Hansol is quiet when Chan takes off his shoes and shoves the food into their mini fridge, and he doesn’t say anything when Chan actually takes his books out to study for his bio test later in the week. It shouldn’t bug him, but it does. Chan should focus on his studying while he has the quiet, but he can’t. There’s this nagging voice in the back of his head that insists that he should check on Hansol. Damn his stupid conscience.

 

Chan finds himself putting his schoolwork aside and scooching to the edge of his bed so he can peer down at Hansol. At this angle, he can catch a slip of Hansol’s computer screen. He’s not even studying, he’s playing mahjong.

 

“Hey, hyung, you okay?” Chan’s voice comes out scratchy.

 

“Yeah, just studying,” Hansol replies sleepily.

 

For some reason, Chan doesn’t call him out on his lie. Maybe he’s guilty for lying to Hansol about the whole Cupid-thing earlier. If he is, he’s going to have to get over it real quick because there’s no way he can tell Hansol about being a Cupid. First of all, it’s against just about every rule in the Cupid Code. Second of all, Hansol would never believe him and there would be no way for Chan to prove it, either. He sighs.

 

“Okay…just wondering.”

 

“Did you call your mom yet?” Hansol’s eyes don’t leave his screen.

 

“Shit.”

 

For the first time in several hours, Chan opens up his phone for non Cupid-related activities. He quickly calls his mother and checks in with her to assure her that yes he is alive, yes he's eating well, yes he's going to his classes. When he's finally allowed to hang up, he quickly opens up Seungkwan’s stream of messages and shoots him back a thumbs-up emoji before opening up the chat he has with his fellow Cupids. It’s a slew of messages, mostly from Kangmin. He’s surprised to see his own name pop up in the chat, and feels the need to respond.

 

 

**K_Min:** seriously tho

**K_Min:** he’s such an idiot

**K_Min:** he just walked past a hot girl without blinking an eye

 

**yeri:** maybe he’s gay

 

**K_Min** : bio says he’s straight

**K_Min:** OMG CAN THE BIO BE WRNOG???

 

**yeri:** don’ think so

**yeri:** maybe he just doesn’t care for looks?

 

**zuzu:** what straight guy doesn’t care for looks?

 

**K_Min:** there has to be some, right?

 

**zuzu:** wouldn’t bet on it

 

**yeri:** wow zu, cynical much?

 

**zuzu:** you betcha

 

**K_Min:** WAIT

**K_Min:** he just smiled at someone!!!

**K_Min:** she looks like she’s twice his age tho :/

 

**zuzu:** maybe he wants a sugar mommy

 

**yeri:** check the bio

**yeri:** maybe he’s only into cougars

**yeri:** or milfs

 

**zuzu:** ye, one of those

 

**K_Min:** well that’d be super illegal the kid’s only 16

 

**zuzu:** wtf kind of kinky 16 year old is ur first assignment min???

 

**yeri:** ngl, this is hilarious

 

**K_Min:** ur not helping!!!

**K_Min:** CHAN HELP!

**K_Min:** wat do u think??

 

**Lee_Chan:** hmmm idk

**Lee_Chan:** maybe he likes experienced women?

 

**zuzu:** I personally think he has mommy issues

 

**K_Min:** im not setting him up with a 30 yo woman

**K_Min:** hmmm but what kind of age appropriate girl for a 16 yo is ‘experienced’?

**K_Min:** in a way not gross for a teenager?

 

**Lee_Chan:** none?

 

**K_Min:** how helpful

 

**Lee_Chan:** kinda got a lot on my plate right now sorry

 

**K_Min:** just wait til u get ur assignment chan, then u will see

**K_Min:** this is so mcfreakin stressful

 

**Lee_Chan:** yeah

 

 

Chan quickly exits the conversation, again not trusting himself to reveal more than he wants to his friends. He’ll tell them later, after he’s found Seungcheol the love of his life, however long that will take. Which at the moment, seems to be a very long time. He sighs and goes back to his messenger app, realizing he has an unread message from Seungcheol himself.

 

 

**Cheol:** yo Chan

**Cheol:** ur invited to our “Friday Friend Fest” this fri. at my apartment

 

**Lee_Chan:** friday friend fest?

 

**Cheol:** soonyoung named it

 

**Lee_Chan:** say no more lol

 

**Cheol:** think you can find it?

 

**Lee_Chan:** sure i’ll be there!

 

**Cheol:** see you then!

 

 

Chan starts formulating a plan in his mind. Maybe he can make some more progress with Seungcheol’s love life on Friday. People are more likely to open up when they have alcohol, right? Chan hopes so because this “Friend Fest” might be his only opportunity to figure out a solid match for Seungcheol.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! This whole posting a chapter every week thing didn't work out...feeling more motivated now though so who knows? As always, let me know if you find any errors I can fix! Hope you liked it :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friday Friend Fest! Warnings for alcohol, getting sick, and shirtless Mingyu. (I don’t know what I’m writing anymore, as per usual)

 

There are a few basic rules in match-making which every Cupid must acknowledge.

 

  1. Not every match lasts; though all matches have the opportunity to last a lifetime, the longevity of the match greatly depends on the decisions of the individuals involved.



 

  1. An assignment remains in a Cupid’s charge until the assignment finds love; the length of the assignment again depends on the decisions of the individuals involved.



 

  1. Cupids cannot create love. They can add upon feelings of attraction or attachment, but they cannot fabricate real love through any match-making strategy; in essence, a human still has ability to use free will and choose not to pursue a match arranged by a Cupid if they do not love them.



 

  1. Cupids cannot be romantic targets for their own assignment; it is not only unprofessional, but also seen as unethical to the older generations of Cupids, especially to be paired with humans in an assignment they are in charge of. (It used to be against Cupid law for Cupids to be romantically involved with humans at all, but the views on Cupid and human relationships had improved dramatically within the past few decades and many Cupids have human partners.)



 

  1. Level 1 Cupids (Cupids just out of training like Chan) only get one assignment at a time. More experienced Cupids, like Chan’s parents, have a caseload of up to 20 or so assignments at a time, but the caseload was found to be too much for a novice Cupid to handle.



 

 

Now, Chan likes rules when they make sense. Many of the Cupid rules, for example, make sense. It wouldn’t make sense for humans, who have free will in virtually all decisions in life, to be rendered unable to make a choice in a thing as important as love. It also wouldn’t make sense for a new Cupid to have more than one case at a time; as in any place of work, newbies are given the lightest loads so that their work can be carefully checked over and approved. It just makes sense.

 

Chan doesn’t like rules that don’t make sense. For example, a rule at the grocery store that he works at states that store managers can make certain shifts mandatory, even for part-time staff, if there is a staff shortage. Chan, a part-time worker, only works about 5-6 hour shifts especially on days when he has classes. But, because of this rule, Chan has been working for the past 8 hours, ever since his last class ended at 2.

 

It’s Friday, the famous Friday Friend Fest day and he promised Seungcheol he’d be around by 9. But it’s now past 10 and Chan is still not allowed to leave work. Seungcheol understands, of course, but it’s very frustrating because this was supposed to be a fun night. He’s supposed to hang out with Seungcheol, who will drunkenly spill all of his secrets and magically allow Chan to find him the perfect girlfriend or boyfriend or whatever. Instead, Chan is stuck at the cash register, checking out yet another cart full of groceries that probably doesn’t need to be bought at 10 on a Friday night.

 

Luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it), Chan is not the only unfortunate part-time soul that has been called in because of this rule. There are a number of local college students that are stuck in neighboring checkout lanes, just as bummed to be missing out on usual Friday night college kid activities. The closest is a tall boy named Mingyu. He’s been working here ever since Chan started, though their shifts rarely line up. He knows Mingyu goes to Pledis, too, but he’s never seen him around campus.

 

Mingyu looks almost asleep on his feet as he checks out an older man who looks like he’s buying the entire store’s stock of cat food. Chan glances down his lane and finds no one, so he quickly slips over to Mingyu’s lane and helps him bag the old guy’s cat food.

 

Mingyu grins at Chan gratefully as he rings up the total.

 

“That’ll be 32,000 won.”

 

The old guy grumbles, but pays.

 

“Who buys that much cat food this late on a Friday night?” Chan can’t help but ask as the old guy rattles his cart out of earshot.

 

“I’ve been asking myself that all night, honestly,” Mingyu says with a smile that shows off his perfect white teeth.

 

Out of all of his coworkers, Chan thinks that Mingyu is probably one of the friendliest and best looking. He also likes that he’s really tall and can stock the higher shelves without a step stool like Chan has to use. It's very helpful.

 

“Did you hear about what happened?” Chan asks, referring to the reason why the two of them are at enslaved at their place of work.  

 

“Apparently Yejin-sunbae had her baby, Hyunbin-sunbae and Sora-sunbae caught mono,” Mingyu pauses to wiggle his eyebrows suggestively, “oh, and there’s a virus going around and that’s why Seunggi-hyung is out for the third Friday in a row.”

 

Chan rolls his eyes. “I’m sure Seunggi-hyung is sick. And didn’t Hyunbin-sunbae break up with Sora-sunbae?”

 

“That’s what they said. But with this whole mono thing, I’m beginning to doubt that.”

 

Chan grins. He likes talking to Mingyu.

 

“Thanks for the help, Chan. I hope we get out of here soon.”

 

“Me too.” Chan checks his watch. The store closes in twenty minutes. They can’t keep them after it closes, right?

 

“You seem antsy. Date night?” Mingyu asks.

 

Chan shakes his head. “Just plans with some friends.”

 

“Yeah, I know the feeling. I think they purposely brought in all of the college kids so they could torture us and ruin all of our night.”

 

Chan is about to agree when Mingyu points at something over Chan’s shoulder

 

“Oh, you’ve got a bite,” Mingyu says. He looks over and sees a middle-aged woman dumping a load of fresh vegetables and the biggest tub of whipped cream he has ever seen onto his conveyor belt. Chan shoots Mingyu a confused face before plastering on his customer service face and heading over to his register.

 

There’s only a few more customers before the store closes, and Chan spends the time trading jokes with Mingyu about what that woman could possibly be using the whipped cream and the vegetables for. They say their goodbyes at the door, where Chan has to run to catch a bus back to his dorm.

 

He quickly showers and changes from his work clothes as soon as he gets back. Hansol isn’t there; he went out with some of his old high school friends, so he sends him a text that he’s going out too and he doesn’t know for sure when he’ll get back.  Hansol just sends him “same, be safe”. 

 

 

Chan shows up to Seungcheol’s apartment for the weekly “Friday Friend Fest” without a clue what to expect. Thankfully, Seungcheol is the one who greets Chan at the door with enthusiasm (which makes him think Seungcheol is already slightly past tipsy) and leads him into a small living room area practically spilling over with people, food, and booze.

 

“Everyone, this is Chan. Chan, this is everyone!”

 

Surprisingly, Chan knows most of the people present.

 

Soonyoung and Junhui both spring out of their seats on the floor in front of a big comfy-looking couch when they see Chan. They’re playing _Mario Party_ on an old GameCube with Jihoon and another boy that Chan doesn’t know with brown hair, large eyes, and a nice smile.

 

“Welcome to Friday Fuckery Fiesta, Channie,” Junhui slurs, ruffling Chan’s hair.

 

“That’s not what it stands for,” Soonyoung pouts, going in to ruffle Chan’s hair as well. “Ignore him,” he continues, voice dropping to a whisper and  pointing to Junhui. “He’s drunk.”

 

From the way he sways into Chan and giggles as he speaks, Chan can tell Soonyoung is halfway drunk as well.

 

Actually, halfway drunk must be the standard at this point, because everyone in the room sounds slurred and looks rosy-cheeked. Behind the empty couch, there’s a card table set up where it looks like a game of strip poker is being played. Chan recognizes most of the people at the table, too. Seungcheol (who Chan notices is missing one sock) takes his seat next to Seokmin (clad in only a t-shirt and boxers), who’s practically laying on top of Jeonghan (who somehow seems to be fully clothed), and sitting next to him without a shirt is—

 

“Mingyu-hyung?”

 

“Woah, Chan? What are you doing here?” Mingyu asks, eyes wide. He looks much more awake than he did working at the grocery store.

 

“Seungcheol-hyung invited me,” Chan grins as Mingyu realizes he’s shirtless in front of his work colleague and tries to cover up his chest. It doesn’t work, though, because Mingyu’s shoulders are broad and his hands do nothing to hide his wide expanse of golden skin.

 

“No way, you know Mingyu?” Soonyoung asks, eyes darting between the two coworkers almost nervously.

 

“We work together at the grocery store,” Chan supplies.

 

“Oh. Nice.” He gives an awkward thumbs-up.

 

“Oh hey, I know Chan too!” Seokmin interrupts excitedly. “He’s friends with Seungkwan, my roommate.”

 

“Small world,” Jeonghan greets Chan with a wave. He pauses, looking at Seokmin. “We should invite Seungkwannie to this sometime. I think he’d like it.”

 

“Oh no, hyungie. Seungkwan and alcohol don’t mix. One time at a party last year, he—“

 

“Hey, I don’t think I’ve met you yet. I’m Jisoo, Seungcheol’s roommate.”

 

Chan turns and sees the boy with the brown hair standing in front of him, his hand outstretched. Chan shakes it.

 

“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” Jisoo asks. “We have beer and whatever snacks you can find.”

 

“Shit, sorry for being a bad host, Chan,” Seugncheol apologizes from behind his hand of cards.

 

“I’ll take a beer, please,” he says to Jisoo, who just nods happily and disappears to the kitchen.

 

“That’s okay, hyung,” Chan directs at Seungcheol. “You seem to be enjoying your game of…strip poker?”

 

Seungcheol grins. “Don’t worry, we stop before anyone gets too racy.”

 

“Yeah, I only have one more loss and then I’m cut off,” Seokmin adds, pulling at the collar of his t-shirt. “For some reason, I keep losing.”

 

“I think it’s because your boyfriend is a cheat,” Jisoo jokes after appearing from the kitchen and handing Chan a bottle of beer. Chan takes it and takes a grateful sip. It’s kind of awful, the stuff only broke college students buy. But Chan has never been picky about free drinks, so he takes another sip. He honestly needs it after the long day he just had.

 

Jeonghan gasps. “I find that truly offensive, Hong Jisoo. I would never cheat at strip poker just to see my boyfriend in his underwear.”

 

Seokmin’s mouth opens comically at the suggestion, as if he had never really considered that Jeonghan would cheat at the game. He looks at Jeonghan, eyes widening when he sees his boyfriend is still very fully clothed.

 

“Oh my god, Jeonghan!” Seokmin shouts, sounding fully scandalized. He playfully hits Jeonghan’s arm and scoots away from him in retaliation. His boyfriend only cackles and chases after him to kiss the tip of his nose.

 

Chan sees Seungcheol bite his lip and look away. Guess he hasn’t magically gotten over Jeonghan since the last time they’ve seen each other. But at least he still has a shot at getting Seungcheol to spill all of his romantic secrets in his drunken, disheveled state.

 

“Soonyoung, your turn!” Jihoon’s voice drifts from over the other side of the sofa.

 

Soonyoung disappears, dragging Junhui with him so they can continue their game. The boys at the table resume their game, leaving Chan to his own devices.

 

Chan finds himself floating between the two games, drunk _Mario Party_ and drunk strip poker. Both are surprisingly entertaining. _Mario Party_ mostly involves Soonyoung and Jihoon arguing about every single move and Jun breaking out into a weird little dance whenever someone gets a star stolen by Bowser. Over at the strip poker table (Chan still hasn’t figured out why the game of strip poker is a thing), Jeonghan continues to cheat. Seokmin loses the next game of strip poker and he’s forced to lose his shirt. He takes it off resentfully and purposefully turns away from Jeonghan who just grins evilly at his back and tries to tickle his bare sides. They let Seokmin put his shirt and the rest of his clothes back on after five minutes, but he doesn’t rejoin the game. Instead, he surprises Chan and sits next to him on the couch where he just got distracted watching Jisoo beat the crap out of the others in a mini-game.

 

“How’s it going?” Seokmin asks. He’s cradling a beer and he has a little plate piled high with chips and cheese puffs that are slowly turning his fingers orange. He offers the plate to Chan. Hesitantly, he takes a chip.

 

“Good,” he answers truthfully. Turns out Seungcheol’s friends are funny, at least when they’re drunk.

 

Seokmin nods and then asks, “Like no offense, but why are you here?”

 

Junhui reaches back and hits Seokmin’s leg, muttering something about being rude to freshmen. Chan just shrugs it off.

 

“Oh, uh, Seungcheol-hyung invited me.”

 

Seokmin keeps looking at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

 

“Uh, I’m a freshman and I haven’t really picked a major yet,” he starts, squirming under Seokmin’s gaze. “Seungcheol-hyung was helping me narrow down my options and stuff.”

 

Seokmin looks thoughtful. “Any luck with that?”

 

“Not really, no.”

 

Seokmin beams and reaches over to ruffle Chan’s hair. People have been doing that a lot lately and Chan finds himself wondering if that’s a drunk people thing or a ‘Seungcheol-and-friends’ thing. He pats his hair back down anyways.

 

“So, you dance with Soonyoung and Junnie-hyung?” Seokmin move on, offering Chan another chip.

 

“Yup,” Chan confirms, crunching the chip in his mouth. Its nice and salty, contrasting well with the bitterness of his beer. He makes a note to ask Seungcheol, or maybe Jisoo, about what kind of chips these are.

 

“Cool. And you know Seungkwan?”

 

“Yeah, our families are neighbors.”

 

“Huh, I never knew that.”

 

“We’re not really that close,” Chan shrugs. Yeah, he’s known Seungkwan ever since he can remember, but Chan has never really considered the older boy his _friend_. He’s kind of like Hansol in the way that he likes to boss Chan around because he’s a whole year older. And maybe there’s still some bad blood from when Seungkwan broke Chan’s bike when he was seven, but that’s a different can of worms.

 

“You know, I didn’t think Seungkwan liked me at first. Like when I moved in, I was kind of loud and I dropped this glass bowl on the floor that we had to spend an hour picking up little pieces from the carpet. And I was sure that he hated me because of that. But Seungkwan is like really attentive, like I think he was just shy at first if you can believe that. He bought me a new bowl. Now we’re best friends.”

 

Chan doesn’t really know why Seokmin is telling him this. Maybe Seokmin’s more drunk than he thought.

 

“Do you have a girlfriend, Chan? Or boyfriend or like, partner?”

 

Chan is surprised by the sudden question.

 

“Uh, no. And I don’t really have a preference,” Chan adds, just to clarify.

 

“Do you want one?” Seokmin asks curiously, gripping at the neck of the beer bottle.

 

“What? Why?” Chan can feel the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment. He doesn’t really talk about romance with anyone except his Cupid friends, and even then it’s always about other people.

 

“Just wondering,” he says ominously, his gaze drifting back to the _Mario Party_ game. Soonyoung is now yelling enthusiastically as Junhui lands on a red space and loses some of his coins.

 

For someone who’s studied love for most of his life, Chan has had surprisingly little experience with it. He’s been attracted to people before, sure, but he’s never acted on it. He’s never really had the time. He’s always focused on how other people fall in love, and he’s never thought of himself being in the spotlight trying to woo someone or whatever. Or being led by a Cupid to find his true love. The thought makes him feel weird, almost queasy with nervousness. Though it very well could be the beer.

 

A loud cheer interrupts Chan from his thoughts. He turns to watch Mingyu slip out of his pants, grumbling while Seungcheol and Jeonghan (still miraculously fully clothed) cat-call him in a friendly manner and share a congratulatory high-five. Seokmin pats the empty seat on the couch next to him and sets a five minute timer on his phone.

 

“Seriously, why do we play strip poker?” he gripes, slouching at the end of the couch. He has his long legs pulled up to his chest and his arms trying to cover as much skin as possible. It’s not really working, though, and Chan can’t help but grin at Mingyu’s pout.

 

“I have no idea, my friend,” Seokmin says as he throws an arm around Mingyu’s shoulders. “I think it’s rigged.”

 

“It definitely is, Seok. Jeonghan-hyung hides cards in his socks,” Mingyu deadpans and ignores Jeonghan’s meager cries of protest from behind them.  “Anyways, it’s good to see you here, Chan,” he continues, giving his toes a wiggle. “ ‘Ya know, away from old people who shop for cat food in the middle of the night.”

 

Chan giggles. He imagines Mingyu at the grocery store in only his boxer shorts, trying to work while also covering himself up as much as possible. Then he thinks back to the woman with her whipped cream and vegetables. For some reason, that makes things even funnier and Chan can’t stop laughing.

 

“Inside joke?” Seokmin asks, eyebrows raised.

 

“Yeah, you wouldn’t understand.”

 

Mingyu starts giggling and then Seokmin joins in and ends up snorting, which sets them all off again.

 

In front of them, Soonyoung suddenly slams his controller down. He jumps up to a standing position, eyes wavering between all of the occupants of the couch and before pointing at Jihoon. Chan had jumped at the noise but no one else looks phased by the sudden outburst, least of all Jihoon who ignores Soonyoung to high-five Jisoo on his win.

 

“It’s all—it’s all your fault, Jihoon! You’ve ruined everything and let that jerk win!” Soonyoung whines.

 

“Hey,” Seungcheol says, moving closer to the commotion and taking a controller offered from Junhui. “Be nicer to your host.”

 

“Thanks for defending my honor, Cheol, but I’ve heard worse,” Jisoo jokes. “Chan, do you want to take my place?”

 

Chan shrugs and scoots down to the floor, taking the controller from Jisoo on his way. Mingyu (whose five minute suspension from clothes had been lifted) and Jeonghan fill in the remaining two positions and they start a new game.

 

He thought the others would start another game of strip poker, but they surprise Chan by squishing together on the couch to watch the tournament. Someone brings out another case of beer and shoves one into Chan’s hands. It’s only his second drink, but he already feels himself getting a little lighter, everything just a smidge blurrier around the edges than earlier. But it’s fun.

 

He realizes belatedly that he’s actually having fun with his hyungs who are surprisingly horrible at _Mario Party_ , a game that is really, really hard to be bad at. Soonyoung and Junhui begin chanting his name at his every turn. Seokmin boasts loudly about how at least there’s no way for Jeonghan to cheat at this game, but he’s proven wrong when Jeonghan pushes Mingyu bodily over during a mini-game so that he loses. Jihoon watches quietly, a wide smile on his face as he sips his beer and laughs at his friends’ antics. Jisoo continues to play host and shoves snacks and beers into everyone’s hands.

 

Chan is actually having fun, so it takes him longer than it should to remember that he’s a man on a mission. Right. He has a job to do.

 

Glancing over at his target, Seungcheol seems to be in his element. He laughs with the others, takes turns goofing off with Soonyoung and making fun of Mingyu. As the night continues, his gazes linger on Jeonghan between his turns. And Jeonghan, as ever, remains blissfully unaware and somehow always finds a way to touch Seokmin. Chan notices Jisoo give Seungcheol pitying glances every now and then, giving Chan very sudden, very good idea.

 

He waits until Jisoo runs into the kitchen to grab more snacks and hands his controller off to Soonyoung, murmuring he has to go to the bathroom. Instead of the bathroom, he veers off and joins Jisoo in the kitchen. Jisoo looks surprised to see Chan tiptoe into the room, but smiles all the same.

 

“Having a good time?” Jisoo asks. He’s assembling a bunch of what look to be homemade chocolate chip cookies onto a plate.

 

“Yeah, actually. I’m not really good with crowds,” Chan confesses, leaning toward the plate. He takes a cookie and discovers it’s still warm. Jisoo must be a drunk baker.

 

“Me either. This is about my limit of people,” Jisoo agrees. He takes one of his own cookies and takes a bite, eyes fluttering shut to savor the flavor.

 

“How long have you known Seungcheol-hyung?” Chan asks, tasting a bit of his cookie. It’s really good, nice and warm and chocolaty.

 

Jisoo munches on his cookie, looking thoughtful. “I guess about three years? He was my roommate when I first transferred here and he just kind of stuck around.”

 

Chan briefly debates his next move and decides to charge forward.

 

“This might sound weird,” he starts, “but, has hyung ever dated since you’ve known him?”

 

“Not really, no,” Jisoo answers fairly quickly. He takes another bite of a cookie. “He’s been on a few dates here and there but he’s never had anyone long-term since I’ve known him.” He pauses. “Why do you ask?”

 

“He just seems…lonely I guess,” Chan shrugs.

 

Jisoo rolls his eyes.

 

“It’s because he’s been pining after Jeonghan for a year,” he pretends to whisper. “And no one else is as good as Mr. Perfect.”

 

“So he’s picky?” Chan questions. Picky assignments are not fun assignments. Or easy assignments.

 

“No, it’s more like he falls for someone and can’t seem to let them go,” Jisoo says, eyebrows furrowing as he reflects. He starts waving his cookie in the air like it will help him collect his thoughts. “Like before Jeonghan was this girl. He was friends with her for years apparently and one day he just noticed that she was really pretty and nice and perfect girlfriend material. But just when he works up the courage to ask her out, she tells us that she’s been secretly dating this guy from England for like five years. He was so heartbroken and he was hung up on her for months. Jeonghan was actually the one who helped him out of his funk. And to me, his weird thing for Jeonghan isn’t all that healthy. It’s like he just transferred his feelings onto Jeonghan instead of that girl. But the same kind of thing happened again, because just as Seungcheol started to figure out he liked Jeonghan, Seokmin showed up and stole him away before he could get his shit together. Anyways, Seungcheol needs to get over Jeonghan before he finds someone else because Jeonghan is with Seokmin and I think Seokmin is really good for Jeonghan, but that’s a whole separate issue.”

 

Chan mulls it over while Jisoo finishes off his cookie and adjusts the display on the plate.

 

“Do you have anyone in mind for hyung?” he decides to ask. It’s risky asking for  his opinion, but something tells him he can trust Jisoo’s judgement.

 

“Thinking of playing match-maker?” Jisoo grins. He doesn’t catch Chan freeze up when he says that, reaching out to ruffle Chan’s hair. Chan pats it down hastily, trying to play it cool. He doesn’t even want to think about what will happen if his cover as a Cupid is blown.

 

“I think Seungcheol really values friendship,” Jisoo continues, disregarding Chan's awkwardness. “So he would probably like someone that he already has a relationship with that he can build up to be something more.”

 

Jisoo nods, as if satisfied with his answer. He picks up the plate and makes for the door, but Chan has one more question.

 

“What about you, hyung? You two are friends.” They’re friends, Chan reasons, so they must get along. Plus Seungcheol seemed pretty protective of Jisoo earlier when Soonyoung called him a jerk. Maybe there’s some underlying attraction there.

 

Jisoo looks at Chan like he sprouted a second head. “No, just,” he shivers for effect, like the idea physically repulses him. “Living with the guy has totally ruined any chance of that.” He shivers again, almost dropping his plate, before leaving Chan alone in the kitchen.

 

He contemplates Jisoo’s ideas. As Seungcheol’s roommate, he really has no reason to not trust the older man, and he probably has a good idea about Seungcheol’s preferences. Jisoo mentioned that Seungcheol might want to date someone he’s already friends with. Chan peers out at the living room, conveniently filled with Seungcheol’s friends. He could just pick one, or maybe he could shoot all of them right now with a love arrow and just see what happens. It’s tempting, but Chan’s conscience is telling him that drunkenly shooting a whole room of Seungcheol’s friends, even for potential true love, is probably not the best course of action.

 

Quietly, he tiptoes out to the living room, waving off Soonyoung when he tries to hand him back his controller. He doesn’t accept another beer from Jisoo and tries to focus on Seungcheol. It proves pointless because he does little other than stare at Jeonghan or laugh at Soonyoung’s stupid jokes. Chan widens his scope and looks at the other boys on the couch. He notices Jihoon laughing at something Seungcheol says and it clicks.

 

Jihoon.

 

Jihoon and Seungcheol.

 

Seungcheol and Jihoon.

 

They’re friends, or at least friendly towards each other. Jihoon is passionate about music and he’s humble about his songs. There’s definitely a height difference because Seungcheol stands a few inches taller than Jihoon. Jihoon checks off just about every requirement on Chan’s (well, Seungcheol’s) list and Chan’s not sure how he didn’t realize it before. Though, thinking back to the lunch from a while ago, he got a hint that there might be something more. Surely, with a Cupid’s help, that hint can develop into something real. He’s not sure how the whole “romantic gestures” thing will pan out based on Jihoon’s personality, but Chan is willing to work on it.

 

He quickly pulls up Jihoon’s profile on the database, carefully hiding it from Junhui sitting next to him, but Junhui’s not paying attention to him anyway, eyes focused on the game.

 

  **Lee Jihoon**

  * **A.K.A:** Woozi (producer alias)
  * **Age:** 21
  * **Element:** Fire
  * **Occupation:** Student at Pledis University, Part-time Music Producer for Carat Productions
  * **Likes:** people with sense, down to earth attitudes, honesty
  * **Dislikes:** PDA and skinship, people who don’t respect his physical and emotional space
  * **Gender:** Male
  * **Orientation:** Gay
  * **Current Status:** Single



 

Likes boys and is single. Check and check. None of their major likes or dislikes clash. There might be some road bumps because Jihoon is a fire sign as well as Seungcheol, but Chan has a feeling that their combined characteristic passion and tendency to be emotionally expressive could really morph into something beautiful.

 

He thinks about maybe getting Seungcheol and Jihoon alone somewhere, shooting Jihoon with an arrow while telling Seungcheol how great Jihoon would be as a boyfriend. It could work.

 

Just as Chan gets up the courage to maybe put his plan into action, Seokmin jumps up from the couch and runs to the bathroom, everyone’s eyes trailing after him with concern. The music from _Mario Party_ barely covers up the sound of him retching.

 

Jeonghan gets up to make sure he’s okay while the others wait anxiously, the game and Chan's plans on pause. They come back a few minutes later with Seokmin leaning heavily on Jeonghan, head resting on the older man's shoulder.

 

“Uh, sorry guys, I think we’re gonna head out early,” Jeonghan apologizes, petting Seokmin’s head. Chan checks his watch. When did 2:12 am become “early”?

 

Jisoo jumps up to grab Seokmin’s jacket and helps him into it. But Seokmin, who looks slightly ashen-faced, puts up a fight and whines that he doesn’t want to leave. First he pleads to Seungcheol and then Jisoo to not let his mean boyfriend take him away from his wonderful friends. When they say he has to leave, too, he turns to the closest person, who somehow happens to be Chan and starts rambling.

 

“Oh my god, Chan, you’re so cute. I’m so glad that Seungkwan is friends with you. We should get Seungkwan to one of these fiestas, I think the hyungs would like him too. And that other dancer kid Ming-something that Junnie-hyung and Soonyoungie-hyung talk about. I’ve seen him around, he’s cute too. You know who else is cute and my friend? Wonwoo-hyung.  Good ‘ole Jeon Wonwoo. He usually comes too but he had work or something. But really, Seungkwan is a good roommate, I love him so much. Do you have a roommate, Chan? Is he as nice as Seungkwan.”

 

“Uh, yeah. His name is Hansol,” Chan answers, taking the opportunity while Seokmin spills his non-literal guts to help Jisoo and Jeonghan zip up his jacket.

 

Seokmin’s entire face lights up. “Wait, like Chwe Hansol? Good looking, half-American, sophomore?”

 

“Yeah. I mean I don’t know how many Hansol’s there are but it sounds like my roommate.”

 

“Oh my god. Oh my god this is so _soooo_ good! Hansol is the one that Seungkwannie—“

 

“Alright, Seok, I think its time to get you home,” Jeonghan cuts Seokmin off when he starts to sway violently, gently tucking his boyfriend against his side.

 

“See you next time Chan, it was nice meeting you.”

 

As soon as the door closes, the mood kind of dies. Jisoo disappears to inspect the bathroom and Seungcheol mumbles something about cutting everyone off.

 

“Don’t worry about it, hyung. Seokmin’s always been a light weight,” Mingyu tries to comfort Seungcheol.

 

“Still, I don’t want to see any of you get sick. We should have been keeping an eye on him,” Seungcheol counters, looking disappointed. He starts cleaning up the empty bottles and plates, and Chan feels obligated to pitch in and help.

 

Everyone starts leaving soon after that. Jisoo makes sure everyone gets to the correct bus or helps them call an Uber, even though no one looks as bad as Seokmin when he left. He misses any opportunity to get Jihoon and Seungcheol alone because Soonyoung is busy proclaiming that he’ll make sure Chan gets home safe.

 

He barely has enough time to thank Seungcheol for inviting him before Soonyoung drags him out of the apartment, Junhui trailing behind them, so that they can all catch the last late bus to campus.

 

On the bus, Chan presses his forehead against the glass and thinks things through. Tonight could have definitely gone better. He feels like he didn’t even spend any time with Seungcheol, but at least now thanks to Jisoo, he feels like he has a solid lead. He hopes.

 

He did have fun, though, which Chan wasn’t really expecting. He’d gone into this hoping to accomplish something with his assignment, but instead he’d gotten tipsy and played video games. Chan vows to not drink again as long as he has this assignment. Or at least as long as his assignment is in his near vicinity.

 

Chan checks his phone to avoid having to play a stupid “I Spy” game with Soonyoung and Junhui, and is surprised to see another message from the Council of Cupids. He opens it, curious, because he already submitted his weekly report before he left for class on Friday morning. He freezes when he reads the text.

 

 

**Cupid Council:** Boo Seungkwan.

 

 

Frantically, Chan texts the Council back because it looks like they sent him another assignment, another assignment that he _knows_. They have to mean his Boo Seungkwan, his neighbor. How many Boo Seungkwan’s are there? But this can’t be right, right? The rules say novices only get one assignment at a time and Chan only just figured out a match, like, twenty minutes ago. He doesn’t even know if the Council will respond by text, but his brain isn’t really working right now and he’s relying on his panic response to make sense of the situation.

 

 

**Lee_Chan:** Council Members, I think there’s been a mistake

 

**Cupid Council:** There is no mistake.

 

**Lee_Chan:** I’ve only just received my first assignment and I haven’t even made a match yet

 

**Cupid Council:** There is no mistake.

 

**Lee_Chan:** Are you sure its meant for me? Lee Chan?

 

**Cupid Council:** Yes. Congratulations on your second assignment Lee Chan, Cupid Level 1.

 

 

Well, fuck.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, another update! After 4 weeks of nothing, I crank this baby out in a couple hours. As always, let me know if there's any mistakes/things I can clarify. Anyways thanks for all the comments and kudos! You are all beautiful, thank you for taking the time to read :)
> 
> Someone brought up Rocky from Astro, which gave me a good idea for at least a cameo in a later arc (thanks!!!), and that reminded me of another thing. Just in case anyone noticed all of the cupids are supposed to be maknaes from different groups (Yeri from Red Velvet, Tzuyu from Twice, and Kangmin from Romeo—those were the only ’99 maknaes I could remember at the time lol). If anyone has any suggestions/requests for future cupid/maknae cameos from any other groups, let me know because there will probably be a few!
> 
> Why strip poker, you ask? Because it popped into my head at 2 in the morning and I’ve always wanted to write about Mingyu’s “wide expanse of golden skin”. Friends who strip together, stay together.
> 
> (Also I've never played strip poker and I've played Mario Party a total of 1 time while tipsy and my memory is not the best but it was fun.)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for not updating last week but I did something stupid and hurt my back and it physically hurt to sit down for extended periods of time? And then I actually got sick with a cold and it was just miserable. I feel much better now, it’s just been a weird 2 weeks.
> 
> Anyways…picking up right where we left off, featuring an oblivious (as always) and stressed out Chan.

 

“Hey Chan, you okay?”

 

Soonyoung’s voice barely filters through the static buzz that’s slowly overtaking Chan’s confused brain. He’d checked and checked again. He triple-checked his text messages and quadruple-checked the new little notification on the assignments tab of the database. This isn’t a mistake. Lee Chan, novice Cupid, now has two assignments.

 

Two assignments that he _knows._

The Council must be fucking with him because as far as he knows, this has never happened before. None of his other Cupid friends said anything about getting a second assignment yet, let alone getting one at the same time as their first one. Maybe this is what he gets for being bitter about getting his assignment last out of all of his friends.

 

“Yo, Channie? You with us?”

 

Chan nods, trying to focus on Soonyoung and Junhui hovering concernedly next to him. Suddenly everything seems awful; his seat seems too hard, the air on the bus seems stale, his stomach starts rumbling, and Chan starts to think that maybe Seokmin isn’t the only one who pushed his limits tonight.

 

He doesn’t get sick but it doesn’t stop Soonyoung and Junhui from helicopter-moming him all the way back to the dorms, continuously asking him questions and walking with Chan in between them like they’re afraid he might pass out. They even walk him to his door and make sure he drinks a glass of water before they slip away, eyes still full of worry.

 

Hansol is still out even though it’s past 3 in the morning, so he doesn’t have to worry about being quiet while he gets ready for bed. He brushes his teeth, puts his pajamas on, and falls into bed all while a feeling of dread slowly creeps over him.

 

The feeling starts out soft and sneaking but slowly gets heavier, sinking into his bones so that he starts to second guess himself. He’s much more sober than he was earlier and he can’t seem to remember why he thought that Jihoon was a good match for Seungcheol. Seungcheol is bright and friendly, doesn’t he need someone that matches his own style and not Jihoon, who seems distant and withdrawn from practically everyone except his close friends? It doesn’t really make sense because one of the first things they teach you in Cupid classes is that the whole “opposites attract” thing is shit and what really draws people together are similarities and people that are most like themselves. The only things that Seungcheol and Jihoon share are some friends and a love for music. Fuck, what was he thinking?

 

He feels himself getting worked up and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. The cloud of self-doubt hangs over him, keeping him awake until rays of early morning sunlight start to leak into the room and Chan falls into a fitful sleep.

 

 

He wakes up the next morning, or afternoon rather, still feeling completely awful. His new assignment jumps to the forefront of his brain as soon as he gets out of bed and sees Hansol slumped on top of his comforter, completely clothed.

 

Chan sighs and moves closer to investigate his roommate to see if he’s still alive. He is, breathing deeply and even snoring a little. It must have been a rough night because he’s even still wearing his prized hat that he bought in Japan and his shoes. Chan doesn’t know if he should wake him or not, but ultimately decides against it and lets his hyung get his much needed sleep. Instead, he shuffles off to the bathroom to shower and get ready for dance practice in two hours.

 

He starts to feel a little better after a warm shower but his stomach is still churning, so he makes some toast to munch on while he kills time before he has to leave for practice. Deciding against delaying the inevitable, Chan checks the assignment tab and reads through his new assignment’s profile.

 

 

** Boo Seungkwan **

  * **Age:** 19
  * **Element:** Earth
  * **Occupation:** Student at Pledis University
  * **Likes:** people with positive attitudes and honesty, physical proximity
  * **Dislikes:** not meaning what you say, rudeness, excessive cuteness
  * **Gender:** Male
  * **Orientation:** Gay
  * **Current Status:** Single



 

 

Of course. Of course its Boo Seungkwan, Chan’s neighbor that he’s known for forever but doesn’t really talk to outside of family obligations or when his mom wants to send him food. If he thought being assigned Seungcheol was going to be difficult because he barely knows him, this is going to be a complete disaster.

 

But at least he has a pretty good lead with this one. His eyes drift over again to his still knocked-out roommate, who definitely feels _something_ towards Seungkwan, based on their one interaction that Chan cringed his way through. Chan just needs to figure out some stuff first, like if that feeling is attraction and what exactly happened at that party that Seokmin seemed so determined to talk about.

 

He doesn’t have any time now because he has to get to practice, but maybe later Chan can interrogate Hansol about his past with Boo Seungkwan. That won’t be awkward at all, right? Sometimes, being a Cupid sucks.

 

 

Practice today is just for Per4mance, for a competition in Busan later in the fall. Soonyoung had called for practice because he wants to get a head start on _Lilili Yabbay_ so he has enough time to choreograph for larger group numbers they’ll also be taking to the competition.

 

It’s hot and humid as usual in the practice room but for some reason, Chan’s body isn’t cooperating with him. He’s struggling with steps that last week he could do in his sleep, but for some reason today make him look as uncoordinated as a toddler. He knows it’s because he’s not focused. He’s still thrown off by this whole Seungkwan thing. But its making him frustrated, which makes his dancing worse, which makes the others frustrated because they keep having to go back over 8-counts several times just for him. Plus he has to deal with Junhui’s worried glances, probably thinking he’s still hungover from yesterday. He’s not, but he kind of wishes he was because then he would have an actual excuse for sucking today.

 

Dancing is usually his haven, the thing he turns to when he feels stressed or excited or depressed to express himself and get all those feelings out so he feels more like a human being again. But today, it’s just not working. He’s too stuck in his head and he doesn’t know what to do to get out of it.

 

“You okay, Chan?”

 

Chan looks up and sees Minghao looking at him curiously.

 

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just school,” Chan mutters.

 

Minghao doesn’t look convinced. “If there’s something up you know you can talk to us, right?”

 

Chan nods. They’re sitting in the corner of the practice room. Junhui is lying on his back on the other side of the room and Soonyoung left to go to the bathroom, so if Chan wanted to, he could talk to Minghao about his frustrations. But he doesn’t want to, so he puts on a smile and tells Minghao it’s nothing. It’s not like he doesn’t trust Minghao, in fact he’s probably the one Chan would trust most out of his dance hyungs to keep a secret. Minghao is quiet and doesn’t seem to care for drama or gossip, though he’s seen the junior get hyper with the other dancers in the department (though when you get a room full of people who instinctively know all the steps to every famous girl group song, no one can resist getting a little overexcited). But he just doesn’t want to talk about it. He’s angry and frustrated and he most importantly, he _can’t_ talk about it. And the only people who he can talk to, he doesn’t want to talk to because he’s determined to do this on his own, dammit.

 

Minghao opens his mouth like he’s going to say something else but luckily, Chan is saved from interrogation by Soonyoung’s return and another hour of grueling dance practice.

 

And it is truly grueling. Chan continues to stumble through the steps and sweats and repeats, repeats, repeats. He’s so all over the place that he loses balance during the chorus and crashes into Minghao next to him, sending both dancers tumbling to the floor hard.

 

Minghao waves off Chan’s profuse apologies, but he winces when he stands and starts to stretch out his back. Junhui is immediately at Minghao’s side, asking him if he’s hurt, wanting to know if he needs to sit down to catch his breath. Minghao waves Junhui away, too, with a roll of his eyes. Since Minghao says he’s okay, they keep going with the practice, but when he doesn’t do the choreography full-out, Soonyoung steps in and cuts practice short. He even uses his stern leader voice to tell Minghao to go home and rest. Minghao just shrugs, looking pissed, and leaves the room in a hurry. Junhui leaves soon too, after a quiet talk with Soonyoung that Chan can’t hear because he’s too busy practicing and repeating, repeating, repeating just trying not to lose his center and fall over again.

 

After a few goes at the chorus with Soonyoung watching him closely in the mirror to point out his major mistakes, the team leader tells him to stop and turns the music off so Chan can’t keep going even if he wanted to. Soonyoung says he has to talk to him about something, which makes Chan’s stomach drop. He has a feeling he’s going to get yelled at, even though he’s never seen Soonyoung raise his voice in anything other than excitement. But Soonyoung has a serious look on his face, which is doubly terrifying because Soonyoung isn’t in choreographer-mode anymore. Chan knows today was awful and they didn’t accomplish as much as any of them had wanted. And a weird, big part of him doesn’t want to disappoint Soonyoung because as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, he kind of looks up to the senior.

 

Soonyoung waits for Chan to get his dance bag and then takes him outside to sit in the grass outside of the dance building. It’s sunny and cool outside, a nice change of pace from the stuffy practice room. Chan takes a deep breath on instinct, filling his lungs with fresh air. He starts picking at the grass, eyes on his shoes, while Soonyoung starts talking.

 

But Soonyoung doesn’t really say much of anything, just talks about the weather, this new drama he started watching. It surprises Chan, because he was pretty sure Soonyoung was going to yell at him or kick him off the team for bringing them all down. But he doesn’t say any of that. He doesn’t even bring up the topic of dance or competitions or anything.

 

“Hyung, what are you doing?” Chan can’t help but ask, cutting off Soonyoung’s story about a dog that he saw earlier.

 

“I thought you might need a break,” Soonyoung says. He’s leaning back on his arms with his legs crossed in front of him, looking up at the wispy clouds in the sky. If Chan was in a better mood, he might take a picture of Soonyoung to tease him with how soft he looks in the sunlight, despite being a little sweaty from practice.

 

“I’m fine, hyung. Just an off day,” Chan reassures him.

 

Soonyoung squints at him. “Yeah, I get that. But you’ve seemed off for more than a day.”

 

“No offense, but you don’t know me that well,” Chan snaps. He instantly regrets it when Soonyoung’s face falls.

 

“I guess I don’t,” Soonyoung says quietly. For some reason, that makes Chan feel even worse.

 

“Sorry Soonyoung-hyung, I didn’t mean it like that,” Chan apologizes, biting his lip.

 

“It’s okay Chan, what you said is true. You’re the newest member of our team and we don’t really know you that well,” Soonyoung starts. “But we’re a team, you know? We need to learn to work together and talk about things that are bothering us so that they don’t build up and get in the way of our dance. Do you…are you maybe uncomfortable with anyone in the team? I don’t know, I’ve noticed some tension, but—“

 

“No all of the hyungs are great, really,” Chan assures Soonyoung. He draws his legs in to his chest and sets his chin on his knee, thinking about how to word things. “It’s just…I have a lot of homework and I still haven’t even declared dance yet.”

 

Soonyoung nods, encouraging him to keep going. But Chan doesn’t know what else to say. It’s not like he can tell Soonyoung about being a Cupid and being responsible for the love lives of two of his friends. Not to mention how the outcome of his matches could affect their friend group as a whole. Actually, Chan had never thought about that before. What would happen to everyone else if Seungcheol and Jihoon or Seungkwan and Hansol started dating and then broke up? Would it tear their friends apart? Shit, Chan hadn’t thought that far ahead, what was he thinking—

 

“Chan?”

 

Chan looks up. Soonyoung’s face is closer than before; he must have scooted closer during Chan's meltdown because now their feet are almost touching and Chan can see a single bead of sweat slowly roll down Soonyoung's face. He focuses almost trance-like on its trail from his temple to his cheek until Soonyoung dabs it away.

 

“You kind of look like you’re spiraling. Do you want to talk to me about it?” Soonyoung suggests. “Or if you don’t feel comfortable, you can talk to Minghao or Junnie or…I don’t know, I could call Seungcheol-hyung—“

 

“No, hyung, sorry. I just—“ Chan takes a deep breath, releases it slowly. He looks away from Soonyoung and tries to relax and loosen up the tension sitting in his shoulders. His hands start to fidget of their own accord as he waits, pulling up flowers and clumps of grass to play with. And Soonyoung waits. He waits while Chan thinks and doesn’t push him like Chan thought he would. It’s somehow nice, just sitting in the grass with the sunshine, knowing that someone is waiting for him.

 

“I guess I’m just worried about stuff. I have these assignments,” Chan starts, cautious. Maybe if he doesn’t go too in depth about it, he can tell Soonyoung a little bit about what’s stressing him out. “And they’re big assignments, like really important, but I can’t quite seem to get started on them because I’m worried about messing them up.”

 

Soonyoung nods and hums, doesn’t push. Chan keeps going.

 

“But I need to get started on them, which makes me frustrated because I don’t really know how to start. They’re, uh, they’re group projects and I don’t really know the people very well so it’s kind of hard to work with them and know how they’ll react to stuff and affect the rest of the group members? And I guess I was thinking about them too much, which was why I sucked at practice today. I’m not uncomfortable or anything with you or the other hyungs. I’m just…yeah,” he finishes lamely.

 

Soonyoung nods, waits a solid minute while Chan keeps pulling up grass and not looking up from his shoes to speak again.

 

“First of all, you didn’t suck today. I could tell you were distracted, but you’re still one of the best dancers on campus. Don’t doubt that, you wouldn’t be in Per4mance if you weren’t,” he says seriously. Chan nods, feeling a blush paint his cheeks and the tips of his ears pink at the sudden praise.

 

“And as for the other stuff, I know when I get stressed I like to take a step back from it. I know that may not be an option with tests and  people’s schedules and stuff, but even if it’s for a short time, maybe focusing on something else could help?”

 

“Like what?” Chan asks. He doesn’t have a lot of free time as it is, and what little he does have he was planning on devoting to figuring out how to approach those stupid matches.

 

“Got time for dinner?” Soonyoung asks, quirking his head to the side.

 

He probably shouldn’t, he has way too much shit to do. But something about Soonyoung looking at him hopefully with the sunlight glistening off his dark hair makes him agree.

 

They go to a convenience store just off campus and eat ramyun at a table outside, still in their dance sweats. It’s kind of weird, Chan realizes, that he’s never spent time alone with Soonyoung. They usually hang out with the dance crowd or Soonyoung’s friends. But it’s not awkward at all. Soonyoung sheds his serious leader role and becomes the same old Soonyoung that is actually pretty good at taking Chan’s mind off of his worries. Soonyoung continues his story about the dog he saw and Chan actually finds himself laughing at some of Soonyoung’s lame jokes.

 

They start watching dance videos, playing around with different choreographies. Most of them are silly, with too many hip wiggles or pirouettes to fit the urban style of _Lilili Yabbay_. But they actually come up with some cool ideas to incorporate into the second half of the dance. Chan is surprised that Soonyoung actually wants to include some of his moves into the routine, especially since he’s definitely not a choreographer and he’ still not a dance major yet, but Soonyoung assures him that its actually good.

 

“Auditions for the dance department are in a month,” Soonyoung tells him. “I really think you should try out.”

 

They’re walking back to the dorms, taking take their time enjoying the nice weather and the sunset inking its way pink and orange behind the campus buildings. Chan actually feels himself relaxing, more than he had ever since he got the text about Seungkwan. And he finds it kind of weird that it’s all because of Soonyoung.

 

Chan’s stomach drops at the mention of auditions, but he went through some auditions to get into Per4mance, so what’s another audition anyways?

 

“I can help you, if you want, with the audition. I know the panel pretty well, and the kind of stuff they look for,” Soonyoung offers hesitantly, keeping his eyes fixed ahead of him.

 

Chan shrugs. “Sure, if you have the time.”

 

Soonyoung grins.

 

The two dancers are quiet for a minute, just enjoying the cool night air. It’s getting darker and darker, and soon the streetlights click on, providing a gentle buzz that harmonizes with the chirping of the crickets.

 

“Did I tell you Jihoon wants to add vocals to _Lilili Yabbay_?” Soonyoung asks, breaking their silence. Chan shakes his head.

 

“Yeah, he gets pretty nitpicky about his music and he said he always imagined it with vocals and lyrics. He says it gives the song more meaning,” Soonyoung says. He looks fond while he talks about his friend, his eyes curving into little crescents as he gives Chan a soft smile.

 

“Who’s he gonna get to sing it?” Chan asks out of curiosity. He doesn’t know much about music, though he did take a few singing lessons back in middle school. Chan doubts he’s good enough to sing on an actual track, but it does make him interested as to what Jihoon is going to make the song about, how the lyrics might influence the dance.

 

Soonyoung shrugs his dance bag up higher on his shoulder and scuffs a shoe on the pavement. “I know he does his own guides and he has a super nice voice, but I’m not sure if he’s confident enough to sing it on his own.”

 

They reach the path where it would make sense for Soonyoung to go one way and Chan the other because Soonyoung’s dorm is in the other direction. But Soonyoung doesn’t leave and Chan doesn’t push it. Soonyoung actually ends up walking him all the way back to his building and still doesn’t leave when Chan says goodbye.

 

“It’s okay, hyung, you don’t have to stay.”

 

“It’s alright, Channie. Text me when you get to your room. I’ll wait.”

 

And he does wait. He waits until he gets a text from Chan before he turns and walks to his own dorm. Chan watches from the window with something akin to sadness stirring in his chest as Soonyoung disappears onto the dark campus alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please take care of yourselves, you beautiful people with your comments and your kudos :) 
> 
> And thanks to everyone for some good ideas for future cupid cameos, if you have any more let me know!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can’t tell by now, I really love Lilili Yabbay. The music is art, the dance is art, I watched it about 50 times while writing this for "research". Also, I have a weakness for Jihoon in producer mode, so be prepared because this might be very self-indulgent. I will try to tone it down in the future.

 

The days drag by and Chan, despite Soonyoung’s advice, can’t seem to stop thinking about either of his Romantic assignments. Chan knows that to actually make any progress, he’s going to have to commit to a match and just _do_ something about it.. He can’t do anything about them, however, because he barely has any free time to spare.

 

Part of the problem is the onslaught of homework that seems to appear around this part of the semester that causes Chan and other procrastinators to live in the library almost 24/7 writing essays and working on projects. So, Chan barely has time to see his own roommate let alone Seungkwan whose social calendar is probably fuller than Chan’s. Plus, he’s been working extra hours after Per4mance practices with Soonyoung to perfect his routine for the audition into the dance department. Chan is exhausted mentally and physically just about 100% of the time, but he doesn’t like to complain or back down from a challenge, so he keeps pushing through. He goes to class, goes to practice, goes to work, does his homework and crashes into bed late each night, all while pretending his Cupid anxiety is strategic planning.

 

Basically, Chan is a busy mess who had no free time on his hands to do the one thing that will ease his worries. He wishes he had more time to be like the other college freshmen who get drunk every weekend and sail easily through their classes. Or that he had more time to hang out with his weird collection of hyungs at their “Friday Friend Fests”.

 

But one good thing that comes from being on campus almost 10 hours every day is that Chan keeps seeing Seungcheol around campus. Those glimpses of Seungcheol walking to class while listening to music or ordering coffee at the library café are some of the only times Chan gets to see his assignment, and he always takes a second to take note of him. Sometimes Seungcheol’s by himself, and when he is he’ll wave at Chan and Chan will wave back, each in understanding that the other has classes or meetings to get to. But most of the time, he sees Seungcheol with other people.

 

If Jisoo is with Seungcheol, as is more likely than not,  Jisoo will call Chan over and ask him about his classes, if he’s recovered yet from meeting all of the idiots he likes to call his friends. If it was anyone else, Chan might get mad at being held up from getting somewhere he needs to be, but it’s Jisoo who is generally nice and caring so Chan doesn’t mind. (The first time Chan sees the two together, he re-contemplates pairing Seungcheol with Jisoo. They get along together; Chan often sees them laughing together or horsing around in the library. But Chan is hesitant about setting Seungcheol up with his someone he already lives with, and when he looks into it further, Seungcheol really only has platonic feelings for his roommate and vice versa. And as a Cupid, Chan’s main focus is romantic love so he drops the idea entirely.)

 

Sometimes, Chan has seen Seungcheol walking around with Soonyoung or even Mingyu. They also call Chan over to talk, but it’s usually to tease Chan or remind him about practice or work, which Chan doesn’t understand  because he’s never missed or even been late to a practice or a shift in his life. His mom would tell him that it’s just how Soonyoung and Mingyu show that they care, but Chan thinks they mostly just like to tease him.

 

Once, and only once, has Chan seen Seungcheol walking around campus with Jihoon. He spies them from across the quad and honestly, the opportunity is too good to pass up. Chan practically flies across the quad to where Seungcheol and Jihoon are walking out of one of the music buildings, hoping to catch a bit of their conversation so he can analyze their compatibility, but he’s not fast enough. As soon as Chan gets within earshot of the two, Jihoon waves to Seungcheol, shoves headphones on his head, and speed walks away. Devastated and slightly out of breath, Chan comes to a stop right in front of Seungcheol, who looks surprised to see the younger boy sweating in front of him.

 

“Hey hyung, glad I caught you,” Chan says amidst wracking his brain for an excuse to be talking to Seungcheol in the first place that doesn’t involve stalking him and his maybe-future-boyfriend.

 

“Hey Chan, what’s up? Something wrong?”

 

“Oh, its nothing. Just, um…where do get the papers to declare a major?” Chan hears himself asking. It’s a stupid question, one he really didn’t need to go to Seungcheol for (especially since Soonyoung helped him with the paperwork last week), but he hopes Seungcheol overlooks it.

 

“Uh, they should be in all of the department offices, but I can grab you one if you want. Did you pick something?” Seungcheol actually looks happy at the prospect of Chan finding his way. It’s actually kind of sweet.

 

“I’m gonna declare dance,” Chan says, not bothering to hide a smile at his words. “The audition is at the end of the semester.”

 

“That’s great, Chan!” Seungcheol cheers, pulling Chan into a one-armed hug. “Sorry I haven’t really helped you with that lately.”

 

“It’s okay, hyung, you actually helped a lot. And I had a lot of fun at that ‘fest’ or whatever, so don’t worry about it.”

 

“Jisoo still thinks you’re traumatized,” Seungcheol says with a smile.

 

“I dance with Soonyoung-hyung, I don’t think much phases me anymore.”

 

Seungcheol laughs, light and loud. It’s a good sound and Chan would usually join in, especially when Soonyoung is the butt of the joke, but he has more important matters to attend to. Right, time to get down to business.

 

 “I thought I saw Jihoon-hyung with you?” Chan decides to just get straight to the point. He’s spent enough time waffling, he needs to Cupid up and get shit done.

 

Seungcheol nods and reflexively looks in the direction Jihoon left just a minute ago. “He had a question about a song and wanted my opinion on it,” he elaborates.

 

“Does that happen often? I mean, I don’t know Jihoon-hyung very well, but he seems kind of,” Chan pauses, searching for the right word.

 

“Independent?” Seungcheol suggests.

 

Chan nods. “Sure, independent.” That was not the word his was looking for.

 

Seungcheol smiles softly. “He just gets very focused on music and can’t get out of his own head. So sometimes he makes me or Soonyoung take a look at a song for a second opinion. Makes me wish he would think about things other than music sometimes.”

 

“He seems very passionate about it, though,” Chan says, testing the waters.

 

Seungcheol nods. “Yeah, which I get but,” he says, running a hand through his hair, “I get the feeling he gets too fixated sometimes. Doesn’t seem healthy, especially when he spends so long in the studio listening to the same tracks over and over and over.”

 

Seungcheol sighs. “Anyway, I have to get to class. See you around, Chan!”

 

Chan waves goodbye, the beginnings of a plan already forming in his head. Chan agrees that Jihoon seems hyper-focused on music, and Seungcheol may very well be the thing that tears him away from that. But if this match is going to happen, Chan needs to find a way to get Jihoon’s mind off of music so he notice Seungcheol. This is going to be difficult.

 

 

With less than half of the semester left, Chan miraculously finds himself with an entire free evening. Soonyoung had cancelled dance practice due to a senior showcase and Chan had actually caught up on all of his homework the previous night. He doesn’t have work until the weekend, so he has a solid couple of hours to devote to his Cupid-ing.

 

His objective is simple; he wants to find Jihoon and shoot him with an arrow that will make him notice Seungcheol. He would normally go after his assigned target first, but he has a feeling that Jihoon might need some Cupid assistance to be confident enough to go after Seungcheol (and to help tear himself away from his composing). After he’s shot, Jihoon will hopefully just see how great Seungcheol would be for a boyfriend and will pursue Seungcheol on his own. And if Seungcheol doesn’t respond well to Jihoon, Chan could shoot Seungcheol, too, or just find someone else who might be a better fit for Seungcheol.

 

Chan pulls out his phone and wracks his brain for something to text the senior about. He’s never once texted Jihoon before, so Jihoon might find it weird that Chan is suddenly texting him out of the blue. After some brainstorming Chan finds himself thinking about the conversation he had with Soonyoung about Jihoon fixing up the song for their competition. Chan starts typing, hoping Jihoon isn’t too busy with his own stuff to respond.

 

**Lee_Chan:** Hey hyung, its Lee Chan! I heard Soonyoung-hyung talking about adding vocals for _Lilili Yabbay_ and I had a couple of ideas.

 

**wooJIhoon:** hey Chan

**wooJIhoon:** good timing, kid, I’m actually in the studio right now…..what kind of ideas?

 

**Lee_Chan:** well I was thinking it would be cool if the lyrics could reflect some of the choreography we already have

 

**wooJIhoon:** hmm

**wooJIhoon:** that’s a good idea, soonyoung hasn’t shown me any of the choregraphy yet

**wooJIhoon:** why don’t you stop by my studio and we can talk about it here

**wooJIhoon:** you can show me what you guys have so far and I can see if it matches up with my lyrics

 

**Lee_Chan:** sure! as long as I’m not interrupting anything

 

**wooJIhoon:** nope, not doing anything important

 

**Lee_Chan:** where is your studio btw?

 

**wooJIhoon:** music building basement, studio 17

**wooJIhoon:** doors open

 

**Lee_Chan:** ok be there soon!

 

 

Before he goes to the studio, Chan stops by _Say the Name_ to pick up two coffees because if Jihoon’s schedule is anything like his own, he’ll be needing it. He then heads the music building and tries to find the basement. He’s never been in the music building before and it’s kind of creepy. The hallways are narrow and dimly lit, with walls chipped in dark paint and cracked white tiles. The ambience is not very welcoming, though if he remembers Jihoon earlier comments about the music program, the entire department in a hell hole anyways.

 

After an embarrassingly long time wandering through the silent basement, Chan finds a long stretch of hallway with a hanging sign proudly proclaiming “Student Studios”. It takes him a significantly less amount of time to find Jihoon’s studio in the hallway because his is the only one that is lit, a weak yellowish light spilling from a small window in the door into the empty hallway.

 

Chan walks up to the door and peeks in the window. Jihoon is there, sitting at a desk spilling over with musical equipment that Chan couldn’t even begin to name, with signature headphones on his head and his back to the door. He’s bopping his head along to the music blasting in his headphones, which is actually really cute and helps calm Chan’s nerves about being in a small room with notorious hothead Lee Jihoon.

 

Jihoon turns when Chan opens the door and immediately reaches out for the coffee. Chan notices that the composer has dark bags under his eyes and finds himself wondering how long Jihoon has been locked up in here.

 

“Hey hyung!” Chan greets cheerily, gladly handing over the coffee to Jihoon.

 

Jihoon doesn’t say anything, but takes a long sip from the cup. He closes his eyes for a second and lets out a long sigh before looking properly at Chan and taking his headphones off.

 

“Thanks, I really needed that,” Jihoon says gratefully. He scoots over and pats a free, much less comfortable-looking chair next to him so Chan can sit down. Chan sits on the edge of the chair, still a little jittery because he has no idea what he’s doing.

 

He’s not really surprised that Jihoon gets right to business and starts asking Chan about his ideas for _Lilili Yabbay_. Chan doesn’t really have any ideas, so he just ends up showing Jihoon a video of the dance from rehearsal last week. They have the entire first part of the dance complete (including some of the moves that Chan came up with), but they all stop abruptly about two beats before the second chorus.

 

Jihoon sits back in his chair after watching the video, clearly thinking. Chan just waits for Jihoon to say something. He could take the opportunity to shoot him right now. He’s not even looking at Chan right now, it would be perfect. But he finds himself hesitating. Something in his gut tells him to wait it out, find the perfect timing.

 

After a minute, Jihoon leans forward and laces his fingers together.

 

“I have a couple of ideas,” Jihoon says slowly. “My original lyrics are kind of just a stereotypical love song, and I think a lot of that would still work, but what do you think about adding some lyrics that represent the dance?”

 

Chan doesn’t realize Jihoon is actually asking him for his opinion, so it takes him a second to realize what Jihoon is asking to respond.

“Yeah, I think that would be really cool.”

 

“That one move you guys did reminds me of a clock,” Jihoon says and then nods when Chan demonstrates the exact move he was thinking of with his hands making a circular motion.

 

“So maybe we can add some time elements. Explain to me what goes on in your head when you do the dance,” Jihoon says. He takes a pen out and keeps it poised above a worn pad of paper, looking at Chan expectantly.

 

“Uh, like _Lilili Yabbay_ specifically or…?” Chan trails off, not sure what Jihoon is looking for.

 

“Just whatever. Start talking about whatever comes to mind.”

 

Chan hesitates because what usually goes through his head when he’s dancing is repetitious 8-counts or a constant chorus of curses. It’s also hard to verbalize what he usually just expresses through his body. But he’s here and Jihoon is looking at him, so he just starts babbling.

 

“Well…the dance is kind of weird, a mix of styles that shouldn’t really fit together but do, kind of like me and the hyungs,” Chan just starts saying anything that comes to his mind and Jihoon starts scribbling at his notepad frantically. Chan forces himself to keep going, ignoring Jihoon and focusing on forming his thoughts into words. “The music kind of reminds me of something secretive and magical? I kind of imagine like when I’m dancing, I’m in a time and space I’ve made for myself. Like a bubble or something. Actually, it’s kind of like I exist out of time? Like how in a day, there’s that weird shift at dusk and dawn when the world totally changes. That’s when this dance exists. And Soonyoung-hyung always tells us to pick someone in the audience when we perform and only dance for them because he wants the choreography to be really personal. So each of our own movements are kind of stylized for one person but the whole audience sees us moving as a unit. I don’t know if that makes any sense.”

 

Jihoon hums at Chan’s words, never looking up from his notepad. Chan continues to talk and Jihoon continues to write, crossing out words here or there, writing extra notes in the margins. Before too long, they have an entire page full of potential lyrics and Chan is getting kind of tired from talking.

 

Jihoon reads out the lyrics they have so far. It takes on a tone of love and mystery, tells a story about having someone but realizing they’re just out of reach. There’s a longingness to it, which matches the music in a weird way, offset by a hopeful thought that a dance at a certain time or place could bring the lovers together again. It sounds good, mostly due to Jihoon and not Chan’s rambling, but he can’t help but notice that there’s something missing. Jihoon grimaces when Chan tells him so, but ultimately agrees.  

 

“We have a good start, but I think we need a second opinion,” Jihoon says with a defeated sigh, already pulling his phone out of his pocket. He calls someone, but they apparently don’t pick up.

 

“Soonyoung is an asshole,” Jihoon grumbles angrily, pulling the phone away from his ear. Figures.

 

“What about Seungcheol-hyung?” Chan blurts out in a stroke of genius. Jihoon tilts his head at Chan.

 

“Seungcheol-hyung?”

 

“Yeah, I thought you asked him for music advice sometimes. Soonyoung-hyung must have said something,” Chan adds quickly when Jihoon starts giving him a weird look.

 

“I guess I can call Seungcheol-hyung. He’s pretty good with lyrics,” Jihoon says after a minute, this time sending a text.

 

Chan can’t hide his delight because this is actually kind of perfect. His assignment and his potential match in a small room alone (well almost) together, working on a romantic song. The Council must be thinking of him today because this is brilliant. Perfect. Almost too perfect. But before Chan can start thinking about any potential disasters, Jihoon starts talking again.

 

“He’ll be over in a few, he has class right now,” Jihoon informs him. “In the mean time, why don’t you get in the booth.”

 

Wait, what?

 

“Wait, what?”

 

“The recording booth,” Jihoon says, already fiddling with his equipment and shoving his headphones over his ears.

 

Chan freezes. “You want me to sing?”

 

“Yeah. You said you had vocal lessons.”

 

“When I was in middle school!” Chan protests, wracking his brain to remember when he mentioned he had taken singing lessons and cursing past Chan for saying such a stupid thing.

 

“So last year?” Jihoon jokes, cracking a sly smile. Chan resists the urge to retaliate because he’s still kind of intimidated by Jihoon and, well, he’ll cut him some slack because Chan will be meddling in his love life in a minute anyway.

 

Grudgingly, Chan gets up from his seat and heads over to the small door that leads to the small sound-proof recording booth. It’s really small, door and walls padded with what looks to Chan like egg cartons except for a large window on one side that gives Chan a perfect view of Jihoon sitting at his desk. There’s only enough room for Chan, a stool, a large pair of headphones, and a single worn-out looking microphone. Thank goodness Chan isn’t really claustrophobic because he has a feeling he’ll be in here for a while.

 

He hesitantly takes a seat on the stool and puts on the headphones and tries to remember the vocal warm-ups from his lessons. He does a few without managing to sound like a cat coughing up a hairball before he realizes he has no idea what he’s supposed to be singing.

 

He tries to get Jihoon’s attention on the other side of the glass, but Jihoon looks to be muttering to himself while bopping his head along to a beat that Chan can’t hear. Chan taps on the glass and waves his hands until eventually Jihoon looks up. He watches as Jihoon presses a button and suddenly his voice filters through his headphones.

 

“Chan, I just did a guide for the beginning part. I want you to listen for a few times then try to sing.”

 

Chan obeys, because what else can he do when he’s practically locked in a room the size of a closet? He recognizes the beginning notes of _Lilili Yabbay_ and goes through the choreography in his head on default. It surprises him when he hears Jihoon’s voice, light and soft and kind of sweet. He’s singing quietly but it’s _good_ and Chan almost forgets that he’s supposed to be memorizing the melody and lyrics. Jihoon stops singing after the first verse, but he immediately starts the track over and plays it a couple more times for Chan to familiarize himself with it.

 

When Jihoon deems him ready, he tells Chan to sing whatever he can remember and presses the button for the music to restart.

 

Chan fumbles with the opening, missing the first few beats, but after a second he gets the hang of it. He miraculously remembers all of the lyrics and he does pretty well with hitting all the notes.

 

He looks expectantly at Jihoon as he finishes, eagerly watching his face for any signs of what he thought of Chan’s performance. Jihoon doesn’t give anything away, though. He keeps his face blank, nods, and says “Do it again.”

 

So Chan does it again, over and over and over. Sometimes, Jihoon gives him critiques but he mostly just tells Chan to do it again. Chan doesn’t even know if any of it is good. He is only saved from repeating the first verse yet another time when Seungcheol tumbles into the studio, looking tired but well put-together for a grad student at this point in the semester.

 

Jihoon greets Seungcheol with a wave and then gestures for Chan to come out of the booth. Grateful for the reprieve, Chan hops down from his seat and enters the studio, surprised to hear his own voice being blared over the studio speakers.

 

It’s weird, hearing his own voice like that, and it’s even weirder that it sounds decent and fits with the song. Seungcheol and Jihoon are listening carefully and Chan can’t help but feel self-conscious. But neither of the musicians seems to notice Chan’s internal struggle, both concentrating solely on the song.

 

Seungcheol doesn’t seem to be bothered that Jihoon had drawn him straight into work mode as soon as he sets foot in the studio, and Chan gets the feeling that this kind of thing happens whenever Jihoon calls the older boy in for his opinion. He takes a moment to look curiously at the two. They’re sitting closely, both absorbed in the music. Jihoon is softly singing along with Chan’s voice while Seungcheol nods his head appreciatively.

 

Jihoon stops the song after Chan’s voice fades out and looks at Seungcheol expectantly.

 

“Something about the wording isn’t quite right,” Seungcheol says first, “but I think Chan’s voice really suits this song. I didn’t know you sang.”

 

“I don’t, usually,” Chan can’t help but grumble.

 

Seungcheol grins and elbows Jihoon’s side playfully. “Yeah, Jihoon can be pretty persuasive when it comes to music.”

 

Jihoon just pushes Seungcheol away and goes straight back to the song. “I think it would be cool to get Soonyoung in here, too. His voice is pretty decent. Doesn’t Junhui sing, too?” Jihoon asks, looking at Chan.

 

Chan shrugs his shoulders, unsure. He thinks he’s heard Junhui singing softly in Mandarin a few times after practice, but he doesn’t know how he’d feel about being forced into a recording booth.

 

“I’ll double-check with him later. It would add realness to the song if all of your voices could feature in the track,” Jihoon continues, steam-rolling on. “Now about those lyrics—“

 

Chan starts to zone out on the lyrics talk because he’s starting to realize how tired he is. He spent about an hour just singing and it’s just about as tiring as dancing, with the added bonus that his throat is now kind of dry and scratchy. He leans against the back wall of the studio to be out of the way now that his part is hopefully done, but he soon gets drawn in by how well Seungcheol and Jihoon seem to work together. They’re bouncing ideas off of each other easily, much more in tune with each other than Chan had been working with Jihoon earlier. They just seem so familiar with each other, from the way that Jihoon nods in understanding before Seungcheol even finishes his sentence to the way Seungcheol flings his arm around the back of Jihoon’s chair so that they can look at the lyrics closely together.

 

All of Chan’s doubts about the match disappear when Seungcheol makes some kind of music joke and Jihoon turns to him and smiles. It’s so warm, so familiar, that Chan almost forgets that he didn’t even shoot with an arrow Jihoon yet. There’s definitely something there.

 

“We need something in that last stanza there, the word ‘twilight’ doesn’t quite fit. What about…the thirteenth month?” Seungcheol suggests. "That's kind of weird and mysterious, right?"

 

Jihoon’s eyebrows jump up to hide under his bangs, apparently impressed by the idea. He starts singing the first verse, adding in Seungcheol’s suggestions and ad-libs a bit to the end of the chorus. Seungcheol nods to give his approval and Jihoon scribbles it down with all the other lyrics.

 

“What about something to spice up the second bit? Hold on, let me try something,” Seungcheol says. He shimmies past Chan with a copy of the revised lyrics in hand and walks into the recording booth, motioning for Jihoon to press the play button as soon as he sits down.

 

Chan waits, curious, for Seungcheol to do something as he seems to be just waiting for the right hook. His jaw drops with amazement when Seungcheol starts _rapping_. And he actually sounds kind of amazing. Seungcheol adopts a deep yet airy tone as he raps, words flying light and powerful from his mouth. He uses the lyrics for a reference, but he’s definitely free-styling as he goes. The most remarkable thing is that Jihoon actually looks impressed, not stony-faced like when Chan was in the recording booth. He’s staring open-mouthed at Seungcheol, disbelief evident on his face, though it all vanishes into a grin when Seungcheol stumbles over a word and curses before continuing his rap. Chan pushes aside his jealousy at Seungcheol’s superior recording skills, because that’s the most he’s seen Jihoon emote since he’s met him and it’s all towards Seungcheol. That must mean something, right?

 

“Did you know Seungcheol-hyung could rap?” Chan asks when Jihoon pauses the recording.

 

“He’s mentioned that he does some free-style but I’ve never actually heard it. It’s actually pretty good,” Jihoon adds while suppressing his smile.

 

Seungcheol chooses that moment to tap on the glass to catch their attention and motions for Jihoon to play it again. Jihoon shrugs and plays it again. Seungcheol raps again, pitching his voice a little deeper and raspier. It sounds alluring, fits perfectly with the song. But apparently, Seungcheol isn’t satisfied and motions for Jihoon to play it again.

 

It dawns on Chan that this moment is kind of perfect. Seungcheol and Jihoon are both in the same place, both distracted, both with their guards down. Neither of them is paying attention to Chan, their inner perfectionists stealing the show, so neither musician would notice if Chan would start to act strangely. Or disappear altogether.

 

Just to make sure he does nothing to arouse suspicion, Chan excuses himself to the bathroom and slips out of the studio. He makes sure there’s no one around and then snaps his fingers to turn himself invisible to human eyes.

 

Chan has never used his invisibility before. Sure, he tested it out when he first got it, but he just fooled around in his dorm room and tried to make Hansol think there was a ghost by making clapping noises in the middle of the night. It didn’t work because Hansol was listening to music at full volume, but he also didn’t see Chan make faces at him right in front of his nose while he brushed his teeth in the bathroom, so he figures that it works.

 

And when Chan slips quietly back into the studio and neither Jihoon nor Seungcheol notice, he deems his invisibility successful. Chan holds his hand palm-up in front of him and watches, pleased, as his pistol crossbow materializes before his eyes. The crossbow is already loaded with a single arrow. Chan double checks just to make sure he’s invisible and waves his free arm around. Seungcheol doesn’t look up from where he’s staring at his sheet of lyrics and Jihoon doesn’t turn around, busy with adjusting things on his soundboard. No one can see him, no one can hear him. This is his perfect chance, his one and maybe only shot.

 

Quietly, Chan whispers “Choi Seungcheol” and watches as the name etches itself into the silver shaft of the arrow. Cautiously, he aims at Jihoon, right above his heart. He’s standing behind Jihoon, close enough that he knows he won’t miss, but he’s still nervous. He’s never done this before with a real target. What if he messes up? What if the match doesn’t work out or Jihoon can’t love Seungcheol or someone gets heartbroken?

 

Before he has any more chances to second guess himself, Chan takes a deep breath and clears his head. He focuses on the target, releases his breath slowly and pulls the trigger.

 

The arrow lodges itself deep into Jihoon’s back, right beneath left his shoulder where his heart is. Jihoon doesn’t flinch, doesn’t even move. He doesn’t register that he’s just been shot by a Cupid’s arrow. Chan lowers the crossbow and watches as the arrow promptly disappears in a puff of pink smoke.

 

Chan holds his breath and waits for something to happen. Maybe Jihoon will suddenly declare his love for Seungcheol, run into the recording booth, and start making out with him passionately. Or maybe Jihoon will get nervous around Seungcheol, all blushy and unsure, and Seungcheol will take a hint and ask Jihoon out. The possibilities are endless and Chan imagines all of them, waiting excitedly for one of them to be acted out in front of him like a cheesy drama so he can go brag to all of his Cupid friends.

 

But because this isn’t a drama and its real life, nothing happens. Chan watches Jihoon like a hawk, even dares to get close enough in his invisible state to Jihoon so that he can see if his pupils have dilated. But there’s nothing.

 

Jihoon doesn’t blush, doesn’t stammer. He doesn’t seem flustered, he isn’t staring longingly at Seungcheol. He’s as cool and composed as ever, not really paying any attention to Seungcheol who is now stepping out of the recording booth and sitting beside Jihoon to listen through everything. If anything, Jihoon seems almost repelled by Seungcheol like a magnet. Jihoon keeps his distance from Seungcheol as they review the lyrics, leaning away from Seungcheol instead of crowding together. But they throw ideas back and forth as easily as before. Talk remains focused on the song and Chan remains glued to his spot, invisible, because he can’t believe that absolutely nothing happened.

 

Eventually he realizes that his hyungs might get worried that he’s been in the bathroom so long, so Chan has to make a grand re-entrance. They show Chan the progress they made when he was “gone”, but nothing seems out of place, nothing has changed.

 

Seungcheol leaves a few minutes later, saying he has to get to work, and Jihoon sends him off with a dismissive wave before digging back into the song. Chan sits in the studio feigning curiosity and watches Jihoon for a while longer, just in case Jihoon will take out his super secret diary and start drawing Seungcheol’s name with little hearts around it, but nothing happens. Jihoon saves their work and moves onto a different project, looking and acting no different than he did two hours ago.

 

Chan is disappointed, to say the least. He thought at least _something_ would happen. He knows not every arrow causes immediate affects but the atmosphere was kind of perfect. Seungcheol was right in front of Jihoon, rapping lyrics to a romantic song. They were talking about music, Jihoon’s favorite thing in the world. How he was not affected by the arrow is a mystery to Chan. And sadly, the only thing Chan can do is keep his eye on Jihoon and try again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! Thanks again for all of your comments and kudos, it brightens my day :)
> 
> Also, I have little knowledge about dance and choreography and zero knowledge about music composition and production so sorry if nothing is accurate. And as always, let me know if there's any mistakes!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to let you all know that I’m at that point where I’m starting to question how long this will get and I don’t even know? Current estimate is 20+ chapters; hope you all are ok with that. ALSO I will be working full time over the summer (yay!) so updates might get slow, please bear with me!

 

With his recent failure in mind, Chan does his best keep an eye on Jihoon. And although doesn’t mean to,  he kind of ends up memorizing Jihoon’s schedule and turns invisible whenever he has extra time to trail Jihoon on campus. Jihoon rarely interacts with anyone, so Chan doesn’t know why he keeps following him. He thinks back to a month ago when he got assigned to Seungcheol, when he thought it would be easiest to try to befriend his assignments. Not that he hasn’t befriended Seungcheol and Jihoon, it’s just that it hasn’t worked out quite like he thought it would. At this point, Chan gets excited when Jihoon does anything more than wave at Seungcheol when they pass each other in the quad.

 

He stops caring if he’s late to class or losing sleep due to stalking because his anxiety about this match is taking up an embarrassingly large amount of his brain power. He can’t study without wondering if Jihoon and Seungcheol are together, he can’t sleep without analyzing every detail of that time he thought he saw Jihoon blush when Seungcheol pushed his hair back off his forehead in a total Disney Prince fashion. Chan is so wholly invested in his Cupid duties that he even shoots Jihoon again a couple of days later, late one night when he catches the senior on campus after a late meeting with his bio study group. Chan crouches behind a dumpster, ignoring the trashy smell, and hopes that after this arrow Jihoon show some sign of being a love-struck idiot. But of course, Jihoon doesn’t do that and keeps walking, totally normal, just like the last time.

 

Chan is starting to think that maybe there’s something wrong with his arrows. But that couldn’t happen, right? No, the only explanation is that Jihoon harbors no romantic attraction toward Seungcheol, which is why he doesn’t act differently whenever he gets shot by love’s arrow. But something in Chan’s gut tells him that that can’t be right either, so he keeps following Jihoon around, hoping to pick up on some kind of hint about what’s going on inside his brain. It would have been so much easier if Cupids could read people’s minds.

 

But because he can’t read minds, Chan starts to eavesdrop on Jihoon’s private conversations with his friends in the dining hall or in his studio. Chan thinks he might hear him talk about Seungcheol with at least Soonyoung, Jihoon’s self-proclaimed best friend. But Jihoon says nothing about a potential crush, doesn’t talk about anyone romantically at all. He just works on his music or lyrics and rolls his eyes at Soonyoung’s antics. The topic of boys only comes up once, when Soonyoung starts talking about some cute boy that he saw earlier at Starbucks. Chan tries to focus on Jihoon’s reaction (maybe this is Soonyoung’s way of getting Jihoon to talk about his feelings or about any cute boys on his own horizon), but he gets confused when Jihoon scoffs and tells Soonyoung that he’s being disloyal. While Chan contemplates who Soonyoung might be disloyal to for looking at a cute boy, Soonyoung scrunches up his nose in annoyance and changes the subject. It never comes up again.

 

And amidst all this, Seungcheol seems as besotted as ever with Jeonghan. He’s all shy looks across the café and longing glances whenever Jeonghan does anything, from humming while he cleans the counters smiling coyly customers just to get an extra tip. Chan would just shoot Seungcheol with an arrow for Jihoon, but all of his training tells him otherwise. Because Seungcheol likes Jeonghan, there’s no telling what would happen if he suddenly throws feelings for Jihoon into the mix. No, Seungcheol needs to get over Jeonghan on his own, or at least without the help of an arrow. Chan would love to help talk him through it, give him Cupid-approved tips and strategies about how to get a crush out of your head, but he barely has the time.

 

Jihoon is proving difficult and his match with Seungcheol might take longer than he originally intended (and he was already giving them a pretty considerable time limit), so Chan chooses to focus on his second assignment. If he can get Seungkwan paired with someone, he can devote more time to getting Seungcheol together with Jihoon. Right? Chan is so frustrated at this point that he’s willing to try anything.

 

Chan decides to take matters into his own hands and devotes an entire Sunday to figuring out a match for Seungkwan. Although he already has a pretty good idea of who he’s going to match Seungkwan with (even Chan isn’t oblivious enough to ignore the signs on this one), he has a feeling that Seungkwan is the type to be up front about who he has feelings for and he won’t need to get all sneaky to figure out who Seungkwan might be interested in. Chan’s plan is to basically ask Seungkwan if he likes anyone and then go from there, all under the guise of a movie night.

 

Movie night used to be a weekly event in Chan and Seungkwan’s neighborhood all throughout their childhood. Families around the neighborhood would take turns hosting and transform their backyards into movie theaters using an old projector to play movies onto white sheets hung on laundry lines or the sides of houses. It’s a tradition that Chan was always fond of, and he knows Seungkwan is too, and the opportunity is just too good to pass up when the mini projector he ordered on Amazon to watch videos in bed gets shipped to his dorm.  

 

Chan spends the morning scouring the Cupid database for potential matches. There’s a few he finds that he thinks would mesh well with Seungkwan, all either on campus or around Seoul. But of course, Hansol’s profile sticks out to him the most.

****

** Chwe Hansol **

  * **A.K.A:** Vernon
  * **Age:** 19
  * **Element:** Air
  * **Occupation:** Student at Pledis University
  * **Likes:** people who are understanding and who listen, people with confidence
  * **Dislikes:** people whose actions don’t match their words
  * **Orientation:** Chooses not to label, feels attraction to all genders
  * **Current Status:** Single



 

It’s kind of weird to look at Hansol’s profile, especially when his roommate is sprawled on the opposite bed with his head hanging upside down off the side as he scrolls through his phone. But matching him with Seungkwan would just make so much sense. They’re different but they complement each other in the right ways. Chan actually knows Seungkwan and Hansol much better than his other match, so it’s easier to see how their personalities might fit together. Where Seungkwan can be loud and hot-headed, Hansol likes to step back and keep the peace. And where Hansol has the tendency to drift away from people, often caught up in his own head, he has the feeling that Seungkwan will have the ability to ground him and pull him back down to reality.

 

But just to be sure that Hansol might reciprocate some sort of feelings toward Seungkwan, Chan casually mentions that he’s going to be spending time with the other sophomore over their lunch of ramyun and carrot sticks. Hansol practically chokes on his noodles as soon as he says Seungkwan’s name, Chan reaching hurriedly over to thump Hansol on the back so he doesn’t die.

 

“What’s wrong, hyung?” Chan asks innocently when he’s sure Hansol can breathe again.

 

“It’s nothing, I’m fine.” Hansol tries for casual but he looks so uncomfortable, almost twitchy.

 

Chan grins, sure that he’s caught him in a lie. “Anything to do with Seungkwan-hyung?”

 

Hansol freezes, another bite of ramyun stuck halfway to his mouth. “N-no,” Hansol stutters. “Why would you say that?”

 

“You guys were weird the other day. Are you two okay? Did you fight or something?”

 

“We didn’t fight,” Hansol says, putting his chopsticks down. “We…we were friends. Back in freshman year. We were friends and then we went to that stupid party.”

 

Hansol looks off into the distance with his eyes glazed over, and either can’t or won’t elaborate on it, probably because he’s having flashbacks of that event. Now, Chan thinks, would be a great time for some mind-reading.

 

Chan pokes a carrot stick into Hansol’s cheek to bring him back to the present and hopefully get some answers out of him. But Hansol closes himself off. He only responds to Chan’s questions with one-word answers and then stops speakinging entirely so Chan stops trying and decides to get ready for movie night.

 

They plan to meet up at Seungkwan’s dorm, partly because Chan doesn’t want Hansol there when he grills Seungkwan about his love life and partly because Chan guilts Seungkwan into providing the location since he’s bringing the movies _and_ the snacks, courtesy of the 50% off candy sale at the grocery store. Seokmin, Seungkwan’s roommate, will be there too. Hopefully, Seokmin will help to backup Chan’s Cupid efforts so that he won’t have to work too hard.

 

Chan is greeted enthusiastically when he gets to Seungkwan and Seokmin’s dorm later that afternoon and soon finds that the two roommates went all out for the occasion.

 

There’s a pile of blankets in the middle of their dorm room floor, bracketed by what looks like every single pillow the two of them own and then some. Someone hung colored lanterns from the ceiling and the posts of Seokmin and Seungkwan’s beds and strung fairy lights on the walls, which gives the whole room that kind of magical feel that movie nights always had when Chan was little. It’s cool and comfy and Chan is a little in awe of how much thought Seungkwan put into this.

 

They start off with _Spirited Away_ , one of Seungkwan’s favorites, lying side by side in the blankets while looking up the movie projected on the ceiling. They chat throughout the movie with their hands behind their heads, mostly sticking to mind-numbing chatter about school or things they’d forgotten about the movie since the last time they’d watched it.

 

Soon the movie comes to an end and the three boys take a break to go to the bathroom and open up the candy. In between mouthfuls of M&M’s, Seungkwan suggests they start picking a second movie.

 

“What about _Ponyo_?” Seokmin suggests, “to continue the Ghibli theme?”

 

“Maybe something more action-y? When we were little, Yaebin’s mom accidentally played _Jaws_ at one of our neighborhood movie nights and didn’t realize it until halfway through when we all started screaming. Remember that, Channie?” Seungkwan asks, giggling at the memory of their terrified screams.

 

“Unfortunately. I still don’t like sharks,” Chan says sadly while Seokmin practically rolls on the floor with laughter. “It’s not funny. I haven’t voluntarily been to a beach since.”

 

“How did she accidentally play _Jaws_? Wow, okay,” Seokmin says when he stops wheezing. “So maybe not _Jaws_ , but what about a romcom?”

 

Bless Lee Seokmin. It’s like the kid has his own romantic ulterior motive. Hell, maybe he does.

 

Seungkwan immediately wrinkles his nose at the idea, but Chan is quick to argue.

 

“There’s a really good one I’ve been wanting to see,” Chan says quickly even though it’s a lie.

 

“But they’re so boring and cliché. And heterosexual,” Seungkwan complains.

 

“But you picked the first one,” Chan fires back.

 

“So? I’m older,” Seungkwan retaliates.

 

“Well if we’re going by age, I win over everyone,” Seokmin butts in. Seungkwan scoffs and rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue. Not fair.

 

 

 

“What’s your ideal type, Seungkwan-hyung?” Chan asks.

 

They’re halfway through the romcom and the male lead just realized he had feelings for the female lead the whole time after being asked by his friend to describe his ideal type. Seungkwan just spent the last 15 minutes complaining about how flat the chemistry between the main couple is and how the male lead looks constipated whenever he talks about his feelings. Seungkwan is right and this movie kind of sucks, but if it sets the mood to talk about relationships, Chan will suffer through it anyways.

 

Seungkwan flips onto his stomach and props himself up on his elbows. Chan and Seokmin follow suit on either side of Seungkwan, the movie playing forgotten on the ceiling.

 

“I like straight-forward guys. Guys who don’t string you along. Cute guys,” he lists off carefully, probably glad to have a reason to stop watching ‘the worst piece of trash’ Seungkwan has ever had to watch _._

 

“Guys named Hansol—ow!”

 

Chan looks over just in time to see Seokmin recoiling from Seungkwan, rubbing his arm like Seungkwan had punched him. He probably had; Seungkwan always had a habit of punching people a little too hard to be considered friendly when he was angry at them. Chan, unfortunately, knows that from experience.

 

“What was that?” Chan asks. He tries to sound nonchalant but fails miserably. Seungkwan is too busy glaring daggers at a pouting Seokmin to notice.

 

“He said nothing, forget about it Channie,” Seungkwan says flippantly before he picks up his phone laying on the floor nearby and stares at his Twitter feed with a carefully crafted blank face.

 

“Did you say Hansol? As in my roommate Hansol?” Chan questions. Seokmin winks at Chan behind Seungkwan’s back and gives him a thumbs-up.

 

“Seokmin, I hate you so much,” Seungkwan groans, squishing his face straight into the pillow he’d been propped up on while shoving his phone away from his head in frustration.

 

“Didn’t know it was a secret, Kwan,” Seokmin states with a smile. When he doesn’t get a response, Seokmin starts motioning wildly with his hands, pointing to Chan and then to Seungkwan’s still form. Chan shoots him a confused look, not sure what he wants him to do. It’s not until the older boy mouths the name _Hansol_ that Chan nods in understanding. He guesses Seokmin is on team Cupid after all.

 

“So you like Hansol?” Chan asks. Seokmin gives him a look that says _not bad_.

 

“No, I don’t _like_ him,” comes Seungkwan’s muffled voice from the pillow.

 

“Really?” Seokmin does not look convinced. Seungkwan sighs and pushes himself back up on his elbows.

 

“I think he’s cute, okay? And I like how he gets all flustered around me but that’s it,” he admits with finality.

 

“But what about the time at the party?” Seokmin queries with a devilish glint in his eye.

 

“Oh my god Seokmin, let it die.” Seungkwan sounds like he’s getting annoyed now, but Seokmin keeps motioning to Chan with his eyeballs starting to bug out, so he keeps going.

 

“What happened at the party?” Chan asks. He kind of needs to know what happened anyway if he wants this match to come through, even if his human conscience is telling him to stop with the rapid-fire questions. His Cupid conscience, however, tells him to keep going with fervor.

 

“Seokmin, if you tell him—“

 

“So there was this party last year, yeah?” Seokmin sits up suddenly, looking excited.

 

“—I’m going to tell Jeonghan-hyung—“

 

“And Seungkwan got super drunk—“

 

“—that you had a thing for Jisoo-hyung—“

 

“Okay, that’s not even true and you know it. Jeonghannie-hyung is the only one in my heart,” Seokmin says with the utmost sincerity, setting his mouth in a careful straight line and looking seriously at Seungkwan.

 

Seungkwan looks right back while pretending to gag at Seokmin’s declaration. And while Seokmin’s loyalty to his boyfriend is actually pretty sweet, they are not the main couple under Chan’s scrutiny.

 

“So what happened at the party?” he asks again, looking to both Seungkwan and Seokmin for an answer.

 

Seungkwan looks absolutely murderous. Under normal circumstances, Chan would probably stop asking questions about now because Seungkwan has that look in his eye where if you say one more thing, he’ll explode and ‘accidentally’ break your bike when you’re seven and you took the last red popsicle even though you knew that Seungkwan only eats the red ones. But this isn’t normal circumstances and Chan kind of really needs to know what happened at that party. If something happened that ruined Hansol and Seungkwan’s possibility to be in a relationship forever, he’ll probably have to find another match.

 

Seokmin side-eyes his roommate carefully, probably taking an assessment of where Seungkwan’s anger lies on his equivalent of a bike-breaking scale. “Maybe another time, Channie.”

 

Chan sighs, Seungkwan nods, and they all go back to watching the movie. Nobody knows what’s happening at this point and any friendly banter they had before they started talking about Hansol has come to a complete standstill. Chan tries to stop talking it, he really does, but the movie is boring and he kind of wants to get this assignment on the road, worries about over-stepping boundaries be damned.

 

“I think Hansol-hyung likes you, too.”

 

Seungkwan groans.

 

“Can we stop talking about this, please? I don’t even like him.”

 

Chan shakes his head. “You should go for it.”

 

“Go for what?” Seungkwan asks, clearly exasperated. He flops back down onto his pillow and covers his face with his hands.

 

Seokmin gives Seungkwan a hesitant look and scoots away from the sophomore so that he’s just out of hitting range.

 

“Maybe you should ask him out,” he suggests.

 

“Who said I wanted to date him?” Seungkwan whines.

 

“Didn’t you say he’s cute?” Seokmin asks quietly, wiggling away from Seungkwan a little more, for safety.

 

“Yeah, but there’s more to a guy than being cute,” Seungkwan mumbles.

 

“Hansol-hyung is a good guy,” Chan says, taking a defensive tone. “He’s nice and respectful of my boundaries and he buys me food sometimes.” He also leaves his dirty laundry on the floor and makes Chan do all the dishes because he doesn’t like touching food bits, but Chan doesn’t mention any of that.

 

“That’s nice and all but that still doesn’t mean he’s dating material.”

 

“Hansol-hyung is great dating material! What does dating material imply anyways?”

 

Chan doesn’t know why he’s getting so defensive about Hansol over this.  Maybe Chan has grown more attached to his roommate than he originally thought. But Hansol _is_ a good guy who deserves to get over whatever happened at that stupid party and be happy. If Chan has to sit Seungkwan down and point out every one of Hansol’s good qualities in excruciating detail, he’ll do it.

 

“Why are you so interested in this?” Seungkwan asks. He takes his hands off of his face and looks at Chan in a mixture of frustration and curiosity.

 

“Why are _you_ dodging the question?” Chan asks back.

 

“Ok, fine,” Seungkwan sighs. He sits up and pulls his legs up to his chest, biting his bottom lip as he thinks. “If I’m going to date someone, he has to be physically and emotionally present. He has to be on time and remember all those cheesy anniversaries and comfortable with taking naps together and cuddling. I want all that cute shit.”

 

“And Hansol can’t do cute shit?” Seokmin asks. He’s practically under his bed right now with how far he’s been inching away from Seungkwan the entire time. Seungkwan whips his head over to look at his roommate and Seokmin visibly flinches.

 

“I don’t know,” he says softly, resting his chin on his knees. “He’s always seemed kind of lax about everything. I don’t think he’d be into that.”

 

Chan doesn’t know either, but maybe for Seungkwan he’d be willing to try.

 

“I still think you should go for it,” Seokmin repeats Chan’s sentiment from earlier, daring to reach out and pat Seungkwan’s foot in a comforting way. “I think Hansol could surprise you.”

 

“Oh my god, just because you have a perfect relationship Seokmin, doesn’t mean you have to play matchmaker for everyone else,” Seungkwan snaps before kicking Seokmin’s hand away.

 

“It’s not perfect,” Seokmin tries, sinking back to the safety that is the space under his bed. “And I’m not playing matchmaker. I’ve seen you two interact and it’s painful to watch. Put Hansol out of his misery and ask him out, for all of our sakes.”

 

“I agree with Seokminnie-hyung.  Just do it. What’s the worst that could happen?” Chan asks. He realizes belatedly that that’s the same thing he’s been debating with himself for the past few weeks. _Just do something, what’s the worst that could happen?_

 

He knows full well what’s the worst that could happen. Namely heartache, broken friendships and promises. And all for what, a small chunk of time on Earth feeling close to and maybe even being loved by another person? Humans are weird.

 

“He could turn me down or laugh at me,” Seungkwan mumbles. Humans _are_ weird. If he didn’t know Seungkwan, Chan would think that he looks insecure. He’s resting his head on his knees again and he has this worried crease in his eyebrows. But Chan knows Seungkwan and right now he’s just being stubborn because he doesn’t try to argue about not wanting to ask Hansol out.  He definitely has feelings for Hansol, he wants this or at least he isn’t totally turned off by the idea, but something is holding him back. Maybe its some of the ‘worst that could happen’ stuff. Though if Seungkwan is worried about their friendship, Chan is just going to tell him to go for it because whatever relationship they have now is weird enough already.

 

“Hansol is way too nice to laugh at you. Just the other day some girl tried to ask him out. He let her down very politely and said that he didn’t know her well enough to go on a date with her,” Chan says, recounting the episode from when he had accompanied his roommate at the library for a study session. Chan only tells Seungkwan about it because it might make him see how nice and thoughtful Hansol is of other people’s feelings. And he doesn’t really believe that this is the issue at all, but he’ll deal with this first if it means getting to the deeper stuff later.

 

Seungkwan’s expression morphs into a scowl. “What girl?”

 

Well, that backfired. Seungkwan is jealous of a girl Hansol had zero interest in nearly two weeks ago. Chan lets out a groan and facepalms. He can’t help it. Sometimes humans are _so_ weird.

 

Seokmin makes an exasperated squawk from under the bed, though makes no move to go out and shake Seungkwan like he looks like he wants to. “Oh my god, you walnut, stop focusing on the girl and ask him out!”

 

Seungkwan doesn’t say anything, just pulls his knees closer to his chest. But after a minute, just when Chan thinks all is lost, he lets out a soft “Maybe.”

 

At this point, Chan will take a maybe. And apparently, Seokmin will take it too, because they make eye contact and some kind of unvoiced pact settles between them to stop talking about Hansol for the rest of the evening.

 

After the movie ends with the male and female lead predictable walking off into the sunset hand in hand, they decide to put on _Ponyo_ to appease Seungkwan. It seems to work a little, or at least Seungkwan starts talking to them again. But the mood is kind of spoiled and Chan kind of feels bad for pushing Seungkwan so much in one night. But it’s all for his own good, Chan rationalizes. Seungkwan is his assignment for a reason. He wants love, he’s ready for it, hell he even _needs_ it. He also needs a little push (or a big shove, goddamnit Seungkwan) in the right direction.

 

Chan leaves after the movie is over and neither Seungkwan nor Seokmin protest, saying they have homework to catch up on and Chan probably does, too. He helps them clean up but when he goes to bag up the leftover candy, Seungkwan snatches it away from him and insists on keeping it.

 

“For our next movie night,” Seungkwan says. Chan bets all the candy will be gone by the next day.

 

Chan is halfway back to his own dorm before he feels his phone buzz in his pocket. He takes it out and does a double-take because he didn’t have a _MinDK_ in his contacts the last time he checked.

 

 

 **MinDK:** good work today with the hansol thing. didn’t know you were a fellow shipper

**Lee_Chan:** Seokmin-hyung? how did you get my number?

**MinDK:** stole it from kwannie

 **MinDK:** I know I didn’t get time to tell you today cuz kwan was bein a grump

 **MinDK:** but what happened at the party was important

**Lee_Chan:** so what happened?

**MinDK:** idk if I should tell you

 **MinDK:** but maybe hansol will

**Lee_Chan:** seriously?

**MinDK:** ok so I don’t know 100% what happened

 **MinDK:** I think kwannie said something really embarrassing to hansol bc he was drunk and someone dared him

 **MinDK:** and hansol thought kwan was being seirous? and was into it or something?

 **MinDK:** but then kwan was like no that’s not true and hansol was like well shit and his feelings were hurt?

 **MinDK:** but idrk

 **MinDK:** but I DO know that kwan likes ur roommate

 **MinDK:** he talks about him a lot, stalks his sns a lot

 **MinDK:** and I love kwan and I don’t want him to get hurt

 **MinDK:** so u should find out if hansolie feels the same because im p sure he does and I think they would be cute

**Lee_Chan:** ok

**MinDK:** ok????

 **MinDK:** wow ur easier to convince than hannie-hyung or gyu

**Lee_Chan:** …I don’t know how to feel about that

**MinDK:** just complete the mission, agent chan

 **MinDK:** get hansol to tell u about the party and confess and the rest will fall into place

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely could have worked the last bit into an actual conversation but I was feeling lazy. I love how pumped you guys are for jicheol …but patience is a virtue :) Thanks for all the comments, I love seeing what you guys think of this mess!
> 
> Also Call Call Call is amazing, I live for Wonwoo's little twisty dance.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for keeping you waiting! Not really sure how I feel about this chapter, but let me know what you think! Warnings I guess for Chan not taking care of himself correctly.

 

Lee Chan is, to put it simply, not having a good day.

 

It all starts early, around 3 am, when Chan had decided it would be a good idea to try to get Hansol to open up to him about the whole mysterious party business. Because as much as Seokmin had believed that everything will ‘fall into place’, Chan has some severe doubts. Seungkwan can be very stubborn when he wants to be and Hansol can barely even keep from flinching when Seungkwan’s name is mentioned. But luckily for Seokmin, Chan has some Cupid powers on his side to help that whole ‘fall into place’ thing actually fall into place.

 

Chan is already tired after working at the supermarket until closing and then he had rushed home to submit his insanely difficult-for-an-intro-to-geology assignment at midnight. The next few hours are spent thinking up ways to get Hansol comfortable enough so that he would feel okay talking about personal stuff, like the party incident, with Chan.

 

And by now, Chan knows that Hansol is most comfortable when he’s eating, so he lures Hansol out of reading his chemistry textbook with the promise of pizza and beer, a welcome distraction to any student a week before finals. Chan should probably be studying or practicing for his dance audition, and Hansol should probably study too, but he needs a break from the stress and everything from his toes to his eyeballs is starting to hurt from being overworked.

 

Hansol, the jerk, pretends like a small frozen pizza and a six pack of beer is the greatest thing Chan has ever done for him and acts like its some giant reward. He spouts out nonsense about how he doesn’t know what he’s done to receive this huge honor, he’s just being the best hyung and roommate he can be, blah, blah, blah. Chan just sniffs and pushes a beer into his roommate’s hand, eager to get to the bottom of whatever happened at the stupid party that’s been plaguing his brain for the past few days.

 

Hansol opens up easily. It’s almost scary how much he starts talking, probably more than Chan has ever heard his roommate speak in one sitting before. He’s only had a half of a beer, but maybe he’s tired or the stress of finals gets to him because Hansol talks and talks and _talks._ He talks about his childhood and his family. He tells Chan about the struggles of being biracial, of dealing with dyslexia, about wanting to be a rapper but being afraid that he won’t be good enough or won’t be taken seriously. Chan can barely keep up, ends up nodding at half of what he can understand and sipping at his beer during what he can’t.

 

Eventually Hansol starts talking about his sexuality, how he thinks it’s stupid that people have to _be_ something. Chan takes the cue and tries to lean forward and look more interested so Hansol will talk more.

 

“Why can’t I just be free to love whoever I want? Why stick a label to it? Actually, why do we label anything?” Hansol muses before taking a bite of pizza.

 

But then again, maybe he’s talking too much.

 

Though he enjoys how much Hansol has opened up, he really does, Chan kind of needs to put a stop to his ramblings before they get into an existential territory Hansol is known to take all of his late night talks and Chan ends up drowning in deep thoughts that he has no business dealing with at three in the morning on only five hours of sleep. But that doesn’t happen and Hansol gets whisked up in his talk of sexuality and labels and Chan accidentally falls asleep at the table.

 

And while Hansol’s deep rambling voice had whisked him off to sleep, a loud clanging noise followed by the sound of a jackhammer on concrete is what wakes him up only a few hours later. Hansol had apparently nodded off at the table, too, and accidentally whacks Chan in the face from being woken up so violently. And because both of them had fallen asleep at the table, neither had set their alarms. And this, a week before finals, is basically a death sentence.

 

The two roommates fly around their dorm to get ready for the day, especially once they see the time and realize that Hansol is already ten minutes late for his first lecture and Chan has missed his first one entirely. Thankfully, that class happened to be geology and there shouldn’t be too much to cover in that class since his assignment had already been submitted, but it still makes Chan upset and serves as a warning to the rest of the terrible things that keep on happening throughout the day.   

 

Chan makes it to his next slew of classes only a few minutes late because he had to stop for coffee to properly wake himself up. He then buys himself another few cups in lieu of eating actual food during his lunch period because had he not stayed up so late last night or been so distracted by his stupid geology assignment, he might have remembered about that huge biology quiz he has yet to study for.

 

Said quiz is awful, Chan is pretty sure he fails it, but biology is his last real lecture of the day and he has some free time before dance practice. He should go home and take a nap, but he doesn’t think his brain will shut off now due to all of that caffeine jumping through his veins.

 

Chan’s legs carry him to the library out of habit. It’s full of students, some looking more harried than others, spread out at every computer, on every couch and chair and table that’s available. Chan sees some familiar faces, some of the kids from his biology study group who probably aced the quiz and want to ask him about how he did, so Chan slips into the bathroom and turns invisible so he can find himself a nice quiet corner of the library to catch up on work without being seen by others. He finds a space on the second floor behind a fern, which should shield his floating lap top from view if anybody should actually stumble back into his dusty corner.

 

He spends time working on some assignments while simultaneously stalking Seungcheol and Seungkwan on their SNS pages. It's not really a good work ethic, but Chan hasn't failed any classes yet. Chan is halfway through a half-assed interpretation of some poem, with Seungkwan's Twitter feed open in the other tab, when he hears two very familiar voices making their way through the swamp of students occupying the second floor. Well, technically its four familiar voices, but he zeroes in on the two he’s recently become borderline obsessed with.

 

Wonwoo works his way past Chan's fern, looking almost bored as he dodges some girl having a meltdown about her thesis. Trailing after him is Mingyu, surprisingly, arms piled high with papers and notebooks and textbooks. After Mingyu is Seungcheol, appearing as tired as Chan feels, followed closely by Jihoon, who Chan can hear is grumbling something about people and deadlines and personal space.

 

Chan quickly debates staying behind his fern and finishing his homework, but what kind of Cupid would he be then? Seungcheol and Jihoon are together in public, granted with Wonwoo and Mingyu tagging along, but still. This would be a great opportunity to shove Jihoon at Seungcheol. So why not?

 

With courage he doesn’t really know he has, Chan closes his laptop and stashes it behind the fern to pick up later. He then makes his way, still invisible, through the crowd toward where Seungcheol and Jihoon are standing outside an already occupied study room. It looks like Mingyu had booked the room for the four of them for this time slot, and is trying to politely articulate that to the stressed-looking group of girls already in there. It looks like they don’t want to leave and are going to fight Mingyu about it, but with one glance at the stoic Wonwoo standing with his arms crossed behind Mingyu and a threatening glare from Jihoon, the girls are packing up to leave.

 

Chan slips into the room after Jihoon, unnoticed by the others, and stands carefully in the corner so he doesn’t accidentally nudge anyone. Once he re-arranges his limbs into a more comfortable position (the room is small and Mingyu takes up a lot of space) he starts focusing on his assignment at hand. The four boys quietly unpack their backpacks, or in Mingyu’s case his arms, and spread out at the study table without talking. They pile the table with books and notebooks and enough cups of coffee for a small army and get to work. Jihoon takes out his laptop and shoves a set of headphones on his ears and Chan internally curses. _Focus on something else for once in your life, Jihoon, for example the really hot guy sitting right next to you._

 

Chan needs to think quickly, before Jihoon gets too entrenched in his work, so he takes stock of the room and tries to come up with a plan. Mingyu and Wonwoo are each reading different copies of the same textbook and point out certain passages or highlighted phrases to each other every now and then. Seungcheol is typing something on his laptop, something that looks long and complicated with a lot of graphs. None of them are paying attention to anything outside of their own little spheres, so Chan feels like now is a good time to intervene.

 

Quietly, Chan tiptoes toward Jihoon. He reaches forward and quickly pulls the cord of his headphones from the audio jack of his computer. The effect is immediate.

 

Mingyu jumps about a foot in the air as loud music with a thumping base spills into the study room. As Jihoon’s face grows red and he scrambles to plug his headphones back in, Mingyu’s long arms flail across the table and he knocks over a coffee, sending the sweet-smelling stuff all over the table and the books and papers covering it.

 

Seungcheol reacts to the coffee first, pulling his own laptop into his lap and then pulling Jihoon’s away from the spill as well before the senior can even react. Jihoon grabs the laptop from Seungcheol when he realizes what happened and frantically turns the music off. Mingyu jumps up practically squawking apologies for spilling the coffee, knocking his chair over and nearly hitting Seungcheol in the face. Wonwoo just sits silently, taking the whole fiasco in with a passive expression on his face. It’s Wonwoo, though, who reaches up and grabs Mingyu’s arm before he can cause any more damage and drags him from the room, murmuring something about getting paper towels.

 

Well. That’s not exactly what he thought would happen. But when Chan turns to Jihoon, whose cheeks are still burning red, he’s looking at Seungcheol with a look akin to awe. Chan figures that maybe this isn’t the most terrible outcome.

 

“You saved my laptop,” Jihoon mutters, eyes shifting between his still functioning laptop screen and Seungcheol’s face. “Thanks.”

 

“No problem,” Seungcheol says with a small smile.

 

This is a perfect moment. They’re alone and Seungcheol just saved Jihoon’s most prized possession and probably his grades from certain death by coffee. Jihoon is looking at Seungcheol like he saved his life, though, and Chan thinks maybe he’ll do something, reach out to Seungcheol or even kiss him for his efforts, but Jihoon just looks and looks until Seungcheol grabs some tissues from his backpack and starts trying to sop up the mess from the table. When Seungcheol moves, it’s like Jihoon snaps from his trance and he goes back to glowering at his laptop sitting on his legs.

 

This is _almost_ a perfect moment and Chan is going to do something to make it right. Placing his hand out, palm up, Chan focuses and wills his crossbow into existence. The weight of it in his hand is now familiar and Chan wastes no time in aiming at his target.

 

Barely even making noise, he whispers “Choi Seungcheol”, focusing his aim right at Jihoon’s heart. It’s a clean shot. He takes a deep breath in, steadies his hand, breathes out and—

 

“Lee Chan?”

 

What?

 

Right as he pulls the trigger, his hand jerks in surprise and Chan whips his head around to the entrance of the room where Noh Kangmin stands, jaw dropped in astonishment.

 

Fuck. Fuck, _fuck._

 

Chan realizes several things at once.

 

The first is that he has no idea where his arrow ended up. He knows he shot it because it is no longer attached to his crossbow, but he had been distracted by his friend showing up at the worst moment possible and hadn’t seen where it landed. The arrow is already gone and Chan has no way of knowing if the arrow actually made it to his target.

 

The second thing Chan realizes is that Kangmin can see him. Kangmin can see Chan in his invisible form because Kangmin is also a Cupid. But Chan never told Kangmin that he actually got his powers. He probably knows now, with Chan standing pointing a crossbow at a human who can’t see him. Whoops.

 

“Um, are you looking for Chan? Lee Chan? He’s, uh, not here,” Seungcheol tells Kangmin with a confused look on his face, because he can’t see Chan or his desperate gestures to tell Kangmin to _get out of here._

 

Kangmin doesn’t get it though and keeps staring at Chan with an expression that is now morphing from astonishment to confusion and hurt.

 

_Fuck_.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Kangmin says, finally tearing his gaze away from Chan and bowing slightly to Seungcheol. “I was looking for my friend but I can’t seem to find him,” he bites before turning on his heel and almost running straight into Wonwoo and Mingyu who are just returning to the study room with handfuls of paper towels. Chan watches as Kangmin apologizes and storms away, Wonwoo looking to Seungcheol for clarification as to who that kid is or why he looks so mad, but Seungcheol just shrugs his shoulders.

 

Chan is torn. Part of him really wants to stay behind and finish what he started, to make sure that his arrow reaches its target the second (third? fourth?) time around, but a bigger part of him knows that he should probably clear things over with Kangmin before he tells the girls and things blow out of proportion. Groaning internally, Chan slips through the still open study room door and away from his friends cleaning up their mess to find his other friends and clean up his own.

 

He finds Kangmin quickly. He’s on the first floor right outside of the computer lab, with his arms crossed angrily over his chest, talking to a fuming Yerim and Tzuyu. Because of course both people Chan doesn’t really want to talk to right now are here and with Kangmin and are probably not very happy with him.

 

Chan starts cowering as soon as he makes eye contact with an icy Tzuyu, but it’s Yerim who surprises him and marches right up to him demanding an explanation, right in the middle of the too-busy library.

 

“Guys, it’s not what it looks like—” he starts, desperate to talk some reason into the other Cupids. But it seems like Yerim is having none of it.

 

“It looks like you got an assignment, Chan! Why didn’t you tell us?” Yerim demands. She sounds and looks exasperated, like she wants Chan to tell her what’s going on but can’t imagine why he hid anything from them in the first place. Chan finds the reasons he had stored up in his mind shattering into pieces when he looks at Yerim’s piercing gaze.

 

“I wanted to, but—”

 

“But you just had to hide your big assignment from your friends, right?” Tzuyu cuts in, pushing her hair away from her face like she’s getting ready for battle.

 

“I don’t get why you’re mad—“

 

“We made a pact, Chan,” Yerim exclaims. “We _promised_ to tell each other and help each other when we got our assignments. Why didn’t you just tell us, Chan? We could have helped you! We were so fucking excited to see you get your powers, but you hid it from us. Why?”

 

“I was going to but—“

 

“No you weren’t, don’t even lie,” Tzuyu says with a roll of her eyes. “That’s the sad part Chan, we knew you weren’t going to tell us. You always thought you were better than us. I don’t know why Kangmin was so surprised.”

 

“I never thought I was better than you guys,” Chan rushes to say, though a small bitter voice in his head tells him he’s lying. Maybe under the surface he did think he was better, that he didn’t need any help because he had done so well in school. But that’s a completely different story now, if they only knew. Chan can hardly get his assignments to talk to potential matches, let alone make any real romantic progress. Everything he learned and accomplished in school is shit because it hadn't prepared him for what a failure he would be in the real world. 

 

“Save it for someone who cares, Chan,” Tzuyu bites with a glare. She shakes her head like she’s disgusted with Chan, and turns to leave straight for the exit. With one last pitying glance, Yerim is on her heels.

 

Kangmin is left standing tall and hurt in front of Chan, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he looks after the girls. Chan doesn’t know how this happened. He definitely didn’t expect Tzuyu and Yerim to be so upset about keeping his assignment from them. He hadn’t even talked to them in more than a week because he’s been so obsessed with his matches and his homework that his Cupid friends had slipped from his mind almost entirely. Though maybe, he realizes belatedly, that might also be part of the problem.

 

“I’m sorry, Kangmin, I—“ Chan starts, but is stopped when Kangmin raises his hand impatiently.

 

“You just don’t get it, Chan. The girls were so worried about you. You didn’t get your assignment yet and then you started distancing yourself. I told them you were just feeling down that you didn't get an assignment yet, so they agreed with me to just give you your space. They were going to throw you a party when you finally got your powers, you know? And they were really excited to help you in the way you always helped us study and practice all through school. You may not think it’s a big deal, Chan, but it was a big deal to us. Just,” he runs hand through his hair, looking distressed. “Just give them some time, okay? We’re all stressed with finals, so just—just give us some time. Sorry, Chan.”

 

Kangmin picks up his backpack from the floor, hikes it over his shoulder, then follows the girls out of the library without another look back in Chan’s direction.

 

Chan leaves the library half an hour later feeling like shit with a growing headache and a dark feeling building in the pit of his stomach. He makes it to practice on time, but it becomes quickly apparent that his mind and his body are on two different wavelengths and yet again his dancing takes a toll.

 

It’s so fucking frustrating. Here he is, finally thinking he’s making some headway when his plans get screwed up by another Cupid who’s hurt that he didn’t tell him about his assignment. It’s ridiculous and stupid but it makes Chan feel terrible and his headache grow.

 

He refuses to take a break when Soonyoung tells him and keeps practicing, shoves the water bottle back at Minghao because he doesn’t need the distraction, ignores Junhui’s calming voice telling him to sit and calm down, that it will all be okay. But Junhui doesn’t know that it won’t be okay, that Chan is messing things up right and left and he really doesn’t know how much longer he can take it.

 

Because Chan is having a bad day. The worst, probably. He’s going on a max of four hours of sleep thanks to his stupid idea, no actual food since yesterday, a boatload of coffee that’s making him feel more jittery right now than anything else, and a whirlwind of feelings of self-doubt and frustration and overall shittiness. He has a headache and his cheek still kind of hurts from where Hansol accidentally smacked him this morning and the physical exertion is starting to make his head swim and his vision blur.

 

It’s a bad day and the only thing that could possibly make it worse is when he blacks out in the middle of dance practice.

 

 

Chan wakes up only moments later, but his view is already full of three nervous hyungs. Someone has his head propped up in their lap and is wiping the sweat off of his forehead while someone else is using a gentle voice to try to calm Chan down and make him take a sip of water. This time, he doesn’t ignore it. He’s completely exhausted in all senses of the word and he doesn’t even have the strength to protest or be embarrassed that he just fainted in front of his team in the middle of the dance studio.

 

He lets himself be taken care of, drinks a few more sips of water and half a granola bar before all three of his hyungs help him up and walk him to the door. Somebody had called Seungcheol, apparently one of their only friends available and with a car, and he drives the four of them back to Chan’s dorm. Chan is tired and he lets Junhui and Minghao juggle Chan’s backpack and dance bag into the car with their own things. Chan is tired and he even lets Soonyoung maneuver his head so that it’s resting sleepily on his shoulder.

 

They make it back to Chan’s dorm and Hansol is already waiting anxiously outside, ready to take an armful of Chan or his backpack, whichever they shove at him first. Under the watchful eyes of currently six hyungs (someone had also called Mingyu who had appeared wordlessly at the dorm seconds after they got there with a steaming container of soup) Chan eats his soup slowly and carefully. When they deem him well enough, his hyungs leave quietly in single file.  

 

Soonyoung pauses by the door, carefully looking back at Chan sitting sleepily on his bed. He looks like he wants to say something but doesn’t know quite how to word it.

 

“Sorry,” Chan croaks. They’re the first words he’s said since the library.

 

“Don’t be sorry, Channie. If anything, it’s my fault. I should have stopped practice when I noticed you weren’t in good form,” Soonyoung says. He looks sorry, practically miserable as if he’s the one who just passed out because he wasn’t taking care of himself properly.

 

“I just had a—a rough day, that’s all,” Chan admits with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have even gone to practice when I knew I wasn’t feeling well.”

 

Hansol clears his throat, making Soonyoung jump. Apparently, neither dancer had realized Hansol was still in the room.

 

Soonyoung smiles sheepishly. “Get some rest, Channie.”

 

He leaves then with a small wave and a small smile in Chan's direction, and closes the door behind him.

 

Hansol peers at Chan with something like to mischief in his eyes, but he doesn’t have the patience to try to deal with that right now. What he wants is a warm shower and to go to sleep. He tells Hansol as much, assures him he can stand on his own long enough to take a shower by himself.

 

The warm water is nice, brings back feeling to his limbs and makes his skin feel warm, too, so that he actually starts to feel like himself again. When he’s done, the mirror is fogged up from steam but it’s gone by the time he’s done brushing his teeth so he’s forced to look at his reflection.

 

In most ways, he looks the same as he always had. Same black hair, now damp from his shower, same dark eyes, same straight mouth. He looks tired though, with dark eye bags to rival Jihoon’s, and his cheek bones stick out more now that he’s lost some of that baby fat. He takes a deep breath and watches how his chest expands and contracts. He takes another deep breath in and breathes out, willing all of the bad thoughts and things that happened today to leave his body along with the excess carbon dioxide. He takes a full minute to just breathe and relax, something he really hadn’t allowed himself to do in a long time.

 

When he finally exits the bathroom, Hansol looks worried because he’d been in there so long, but he assures his roommate for what seems like the millionth time that night that he’s fine. Or at least, he’s going to be.

 

Chan had a bad day. The worst day, probably. But as he climbs into bed and takes a few more deep breaths to help him fall asleep, he thinks of his hyungs, his friends, who are willing to help him through it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo this mostly just served as a wake up call for Chan to get his shit together and chill. It was a big plot point in my original outline (and took a lot longer to resolve) but everything changed a lot when I actually started writing it. I decided to keep it in, so hopefully it still fits and nobody hates me. Don't hate the other cupids either, they have good intentions. Good times are ahead, I swear.
> 
> Also, sorry if you wanted to know about the party. We will probably find out what happened later...who knows??


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My only outline notes for this chapter: YAS maknae line hangout, Chan you shoot those boyzz.  
> Maybe that’s why it took so long to write this… enjoy :)

 

The weekend following the day from Hell, Chan decides to spend some time at home. It’s the first time he’s spent so long at home since the beginning of the semester and he feels kind of awful about it.

 

His parents are surprised when he shows up, but they end up surprising him more by being so understanding after he tells them everything that’s happened with him recently. He tells them about both of his assignments, about his fight with his Cupid friends, about how he passed out at practice. They’re understanding but they tell him they’re disappointed that he didn’t reach out for help until he made himself sick.

 

For two whole days, Chan spends time with just his parents and his textbooks, being fed homemade meals and given advice about where to go with his assignments. His mom says that he should probably focus on one match at a time so he doesn’t overwhelm himself again. His dad says that he should shoot or talk to Seungcheol about Jihoon. However both of his parents say that for the next week, at least, his schoolwork is the most important.

 

“You need to find some balance, Chan,” his mom lectures him one night. He’s sitting on the couch with his mom on one side and his dad on the other, a cooking show playing forgotten on the TV as they talk about school and work and life in general. It’s good and familiar and it makes Chan reminiscent about times in his not-so-distant past that this was the everyday norm.

 

“All good Cupids have a good sense of balance,” she continues. “For example, how to know when to shoot and when to wait. Even when to focus on their own lives so they don’t become overworked. That’s all it is. It’s just good balance.”

 

As a dancer, Chan knows a thing or two about balance in the physical sense. Good core muscles equals good balance equals good turns, good transitions, good just about everything in dance. Balance is arguably the most important skill to have as a dancer (along with flexibility and endurance, each of which could probably turn into their own little life lessons, he muses) and Chan has worked extremely hard to develop that ability.

 

As a young Cupid, Chan guesses he still has a lot to learn about balance in the more figurative sense. About how to balance his Cupid life with his more human one, about how to balance his schoolwork and his assignments and his friends. Maybe that’s the secret message the Council is trying to teach him (if they’re trying to teach him anything at all) by giving him all of these assignments at the same time. If that’s the case, its working and Chan is learning a lot about himself in the process. Like maybe he should actually start using his brain to try to balance his life and responsibilities more so he doesn’t end up as stressed as he’s been recently. That would probably be a good start.

 

Following his parents’ advice, Chan focuses on studying for finals and preparing for his dance audition. The weekend flies by quickly and Chan heads back to campus feeling more rested and at ease than he has in weeks.

 

He thought he would feel embarrassed or ashamed that he wasn’t taking care of himself enough to the point of passing out when he goes back to school, but the feelings don’t come. Instead, Chan feels an overwhelming sense of support and warmth in the form of his collection of hyungs who seem hell-bent on doing their best to take care of him.

 

Even though he was planning on sleeping the proper amount and eating all of his meals, Chan receives constant reminders about exactly those things from almost everyone he knows on campus. They do it gently, without pestering or lecturing him about his health or making him feel like he can’t take care of himself at all. None of his hyungs chastise him about passing out, just ask him if he had a good weekend and inquire about his dinner plans. And instead of getting mad or annoyed at his hyungs for checking in on him, Chan just accepts it and lets his hyungs take care of him. Chan decides to accept it for what it really is; his friends caring about his well-being and actually being really good at it.

 

Hansol starts waking up before Chan leaves for class just to eat breakfast with him. Seungcheol and Seungkwan take turns kidnapping him during his lunch period to make sure he eats. Mingyu keeps a careful eye on him when they have their shifts together at the store and takes to driving him home so Chan doesn’t have to wait around for the bus. Minghao and Junhui actually show up to his private practices with Soonyoung for his audition, forcing water or a mini fan into his face every five minutes. And most surprisingly, Jihoon finds him a few times when he’s studying in the library and walks him back to his dorm before it gets too late.

 

He starts to feel stupid for being annoyed at his friends for caring about him in the first place.

 

With his friends’ help, Chan manages to survive his first finals week in college and aces his audition to the dance department. Chan can now call himself a dance major and it actually feels better than he thought it would.

 

Soonyoung takes him out to get sushi after the audition, gushing with excitement about Chan following in his footsteps and how much Chan is going to love his dance classes. He’s supposed to start his official dance classes in the fall, but because he’s a semester behind and Soonyoung has an in with a lot of the professors, they agree to let Chan get actual credit for participating with Per4mance in the upcoming competition and for assisting some community classes over the summer with Junhui. Chan agrees because it’s a good way to get ahead in his new major and he’ll be around campus periodically for dance practices anyways.

 

Chan is excited that he won’t spend the summer completely alone. He hasn’t spoken to his Cupid friends since that day at the library and he’s not sure if he should make the first attempt at communication or not. He probably should, now that he’s done with his classes, but he can’t help the feeling of fear that he somehow broke their trust and they’ll never want to speak to him again. And though he knows he ignored them for the better part of the semester, he realizes now how much he misses them.

 

He doesn’t have much time to dwell on his sadness because Seungkwan, in order to celebrate the end of finals and Chan’s acceptance into the dance department, decides to throw a small get-together of friends in his dorm.

 

Chan doesn’t really know what to expect when he heads over to Seungkwan’s dorm after his last final. A lot of students are leaving for the summer but some, like Chan, are continuing to live in the dorms because of summer classes and activities. Seungkwan had told him during one of their lunches that he was going home for the summer, but he’d be around campus frequently for choir practices and to see Chan, of course. Hansol, too, is going home for the summer, and it feels pretty lonely watching Hansol pack up his bags knowing that he’ll have the room to himself for the next few weeks.

 

Seungkwan’s dorm isn’t empty like Chan’s when he arrives, and it definitely doesn’t have that empty feeling that’s overtaking the majority of campus. That is probably due to the amount of familiar faces crammed into Seungkwan’s still fully-furnished dorm.

 

As soon as the door opens, Chan is pelted with confetti by Seungkwan and Minghao while Mingyu and Seokmin trumpet out a weird mixture of ABBA’s _Dancing Queen_ and _Dancing King_ by EXO and Yoo Jaesuk on those annoying paper party horns that sound like shit. Most surprising is Hansol standing sheepishly next to the coffee table holding a cake with so many lit candles on it that Chan is kind of amazed the whole room isn’t on fire right now.

 

Once Chan blows out the candles and the room is saved from being imminently set ablaze, he allows himself to feel touched by their efforts. He feels even more touched by the chicken he smells as the smoke cloud around Hansol shifts and he can see a small coffee table loaded with food. There’s beer too of course, and as soon as Seungkwan is finished dumping his entire bag of confetti straight on Chan’s head, they waste no time in shoving a can at Chan.

 

They all settle companionably around Seungkwan and Seokmin’s coffee table to eat and drink and goof off. Chan is happy to see that the candy he brought for their movie night a few weeks ago is still there, as if they actually _were_ going to save it for another movie night. Chan figures this impromptu party is the next best thing.

 

So they eat and drink and talk, getting steadily more giggly and talkative the more they drink. Hansol sticks by Chan because he doesn’t know the others as well, but becomes more relaxed as the minutes tick by. He’s really flushed though and kind of twitchy, and he looks away every time Seungkwan says anything to anyone which, being Seungkwan, is a lot. Seungkwan, for the most part, doesn’t seem bothered by Hansol’s presence in his dorm, but the weird looks he keeps sending Hansol’s way are a dead giveaway. Hopefully he’s contemplating what he and Chan and Seokmin talked about a few weeks ago. Chan scoots the candy bowl closer to him as a reminder, unable to keep his Cupid instincts at bay.

 

Eventually, someone brings up the upperclassmen that aren’t there, bringing up the way Wonwoo-hyung had brushed them off rudely so that he could study and asking why Seokmin is here instead of with his boyfriend. Seokmin giggles, saying that his friends are important, too. Minghao asks Chan if it’s true that he’s teaching with Junhui this summer and Chan nods.

 

“Jun-hyung is a really good instructor,” Minghao tells him, “just make sure you back him up because sometimes I think he doubts himself when he’s in front of other dancers.”

 

Mingyu gives Minghao a nudge and a sly grin at his comment, but Minghao just ignores him and reaches for another piece of chicken to pop in his mouth. Chan didn’t know that Mingyu and Minghao were so close, but seeing as how Minghao doesn’t throw off Mingyu when he drapes his entire upper body across his lap, he figures they must be pretty good friends.

 

“Is Junhui that guy who hangs out with Soonyoung?” Hansol asks. It’s the first he’s really spoken up all night, probably because of the Seungkwan thing because Hansol isn’t usually so shy around other people.

 

Chan nods. “Jun-hyung is a dance major, too.”

 

“Wait, how do you know Soonyoung-hyung and not Jun-hyung?” Minghao asks him.

 

Hansol shrugs. “Chan talks about a Soonyoung-hyung a lot.”

 

“Well yeah, he helped me with my audition,” Chan is quick to defend when Seungkwan sends a smirk in his direction and Minghao gives him a knowing grin. Chan doesn’t like what they’re insinuating, even as his face heats up from their attention. So what if he’s brought up Soonyoung a couple of times when he’s talking to his roommate? It doesn’t mean anything, it’s completely normal. He probably talks about Soonyoung as much as he does Junhui or Minghao, Hansol just doesn’t listen well.

 

“Right,” Seungkwan says slowly, still smirking at Chan. Chan just wrinkles his nose. “You know Soonyoungie-hyung talks a lot about Chan, too.”

 

“That’s right, Chan is his protégé, isn’t he?” Mingyu grins, canines gleaming. Next to him, Minghao can barely keep his laughter concealed and Chan feels his face heating up even more though he doesn’t really know why.

 

“How did you even hear about that?” Chan grumbles, reaching for another sip of beer.

 

But before he can ponder too much about how all of his friends know each other and apparently talk about him behind his back, Lee Seokmin, resident angel, takes pity on Chan’s tomato-red face and tries to get the conversation back on track.

 

“So what’s everybody doing for the summer?” he asks. Really, Lee Seokmin must be an angel, way too good for this world and this room full of traitorous hyungs.

 

Thankfully, Mingyu takes the bait and starts talking about the different jobs he’s juggling this summer. Chan shoots a grateful smile to Seokmin, but Seokmin is looking down at his phone. Chan is too busy trying to catch Seokmin's attention that he doesn’t notice Hansol scoot closer to him.

 

“Sorry Channie,” he whispers. “Didn’t mean to make it a thing.”

 

“It’s fine,” Chan says waving him off. Really, Chan doesn’t get why everyone is making a big deal out of it. He knows he’s one of Soonyoung’s favorite dongsaengs, he’d be blind not to. And so what if Soonyoung is becoming one of Chan’s favorite, if tiring, hyungs too? It doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t bother him, so why should it be a _thing_ as Hansol had put it. So Chan decides to stop thinking about it, shove it to the back of his brain with all the other things he doesn’t want to think about, to save it for another time when he’s a little more drunk and tired.

 

The conversation starts to lull, so someone turns on the TV as a buffer. Chan notices that he isn’t the only one to turn to the distraction eagerly. Hansol, who had been dodging looks from Seungkwan all night practically hurts himself with how fast he turns to look at the screen, leaving Seungkwan and stare longingly at the back of his head. Seokmin curls in on himself now that no one’s watching, resting his head tiredly on his knees. Minghao and Mingyu lean into each other to watch the drama now playing loudly on the TV, but he notices how often Minghao keeps glancing at his phone and Mingyu bounces his legs like he’s anxious about something.

 

The atmosphere turns sour so quick, that Chan feels his stomach twist with discomfort. Something happened, somewhere between the food and the teasing, and Chan must’ve missed it because he was too into his own thoughts. Or maybe something’s been brewing for a while and no one really saw it coming. Either way, something is off and Chan really wants desperately to fix it.

 

And as a Cupid, there’s only really one thing he can fix in the room; the obvious tension between Seungkwan and Hansol. It’s possible it could be affecting the others, right? It makes Chan on edge just watching them together, so maybe their idiocy is just mixing with post-finals stress and making everyone else feel off and uncomfortable, too.

 

He has to do something. Right?

 

While the drama progresses and no one talks, Chan thinks about his choices. He thinks back to his parents’ advice, about focusing and finding balance. He feels more focused and balanced than he has in a while. Plus, he hasn’t been crazily stalking Seungkwan and Hansol to the point where he skips classes or meals and he hasn’t really thought about his Cupid duties for a whole week. And for the first time in a long time, Seungkwan and Hansol are in the same room, pretty aware of each other and how awkward everything is. How could he _not_ do something?

 

Chan excuses himself to the bathroom even though no one is really paying attention to him anyway (a small part o Chan is kind of pissed at that because this was supposed to be _his_ party, but Cupids are supposed to be selfless anyways so he figures it might be good to get used to that). Once securely in the bathroom, he turns himself invisible and as silently as possible, he sneaks back out to join his friends. No one turns when the door squeaks, probably thanks to the volume on the TV, but it still makes Chan freeze for a few seconds just in case anyone would look in his direction anyways. After a few seconds of no one moving, Chan allows himself to relax and pulls the bathroom door fully closed.

 

He tip-toes over to Seungkwan, who is whispering quietly to his roommate, but Seokmin doesn’t look to be really invested in the conversation, more interested in the can of beer in his hands until a loud noise from the TV distracts him. Seungkwan swats Seokmin’s arm in annoyance but when Seokmin doesn’t even respond, Seungkwan takes out his phone and starts angrily scrolling through his Twitter feed.

 

Chan takes a deep breath. He’s trying really hard not to think about the last time he used his crossbow as he wills it into existence, but he can’t help it. The fear is there. It’s evident in the way his usually steady hand is shaking, and the little squeak to his voice as he whispers “Chwe Hansol”. And he is afraid. He’s afraid of failure mostly, afraid of missing the shot or judging the situation wrong. Of losing more friends because he didn’t make the right decision or spiraling down to a darker place than before if he fails again. Chan takes a deep breath and tries to let it all go.

 

He thinks about his parents, all of the guidance and support they’ve given him in the past weekend. He thinks about Hansol and Seungkwan, how he just knows in his gut that they can be happy together. It’s a good reminder that this isn’t about Chan, not really. This is about love and Seungkwan and Hansol. About Seungkwan finding someone to do all that cheesy relationship stuff he wants to do, and Hansol finding someone to accept him for who he is. This is about two people, two of his friends, finding someone good to love and grow with in the weird way that humans like. If he has the chance to help their love along, he should take it.

 

Chan breathes out and pulls the trigger, heart filled with fear but hope as well. He watches the arrow _swoosh_ through the air to lodge itself into the middle of Seungkwan’s chest.

 

The effect is, startlingly, immediate.

 

Seungkwan visibly flinches, so much so that Chan is actually worried that he hurt him with the Cupid’s arrow. But a second later, the arrow disappears in a puff of smoke and Seungkwan whips his head around to stare in Hansol’s direction with a dumbstruck look on his face.

 

Chan barely has a second to celebrate his apparent victory, though, before Seungkwan starts to move. In one swift movement Seungkwan crosses the room, practically shoving Seokmin out of his way and stepping on Mingyu until he’s standing next to Hansol. Hansol is trying to keep his eyes on the TV but Seungkwan is looming over him and when Seungkwan taps him on the shoulder, Hansol is forced to look up at him. Seungkwan grins and jerks his head toward the door in a silent question. Hansol with his mouth agape, nods and follows Seungkwan through the door and outside into the hallway.

 

Chan is quick enough that he manages to wedge his foot in the door, keeping it open a tiny crack. He contemplates opening the door so he can see more of what’s happening in the hallway, but he thinks a door opening by an invisible force might scare Seungkwan away from whatever he’s about to do. As it is, with his foot keeping the door open just a crack, Chan can see Hansol’s profile and a sliver of Seungkwan from where he’s standing a good distance in front of the other sophomore.

 

“Hey,” Seungkwan starts awkwardly.

 

His demeanor, since he crossed through the door, has changed drastically. Seungkwan is no longer calm, cool, and collected. He looks nervous, from what Chan can see of him through the door. Like textbook nervousness, practically stuttering, shifting constantly, probably sweaty palms and rapid heartbeat and butterflies in the stomach, too. It makes Chan practically giddy. Though there’s not much he could actually do at this point, besides maybe trip one of them if they start to run away, it looks like things are going the right direction. Finally.

 

“Hey,” Hansol says back. He looks more uncomfortable than nervous, his shoulders hunched a little and a small frown on his face. His face is no longer its usual red color when he usually talks to or about Seungkwan, but then again he’s had plenty of time to steel himself for this throughout the party. It looks like he’s trying really hard to keep himself together in front of the other boy.

 

“I just wanted to say thanks for coming. To this. Today, I mean. I—I think it means a lot to Chan that you’re here,” Seungwan tells him.

 

“Well, he’s my roommate, so…” Hansol shrugs. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, then takes them out again a few seconds later. 

 

Chan peers to catch a glimpse of Seungkwan, but the sophomore is just staring at Hansol’s shoes, looking eerily similar to those little fish with the big eyes and their mouths hanging open. At this point, Chan would do anything to interfere, but he’s kind of stuck behind the door so he’s forced to suffer silently.

 

After an uncomfortable amount of silence, Hansol sighs and looks at Seungkwan with a look of pity.

 

 “If that’s all you had to say,” he says quietly while shifting from foot to foot, “I’d rather be awkward inside, so—“

 

“Wait!” Seungkwan yelps, taking a step forward. Seungkwan’s sudden movement makes Hansol jump straight into the air and make this weird surprised squeaking sound before he tries to recover and play it off by acting cool and aloof.

 

Slowly, like he’s scared of spooking him again, Seungkwan puts his hands up in front of him. It’s a steadying gesture for either Hansol or himself, though Chan can’t be quite sure which one it is at this point.

 

“It’s just…I also wanted to say I’m sorry,” Seungkwan whispers. When Hansol doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, Seungkwan lowers his hands and his head in defeat.

 

“For what?” Hansol asks quietly.

 

Seungkwan whips his head up to meet Hansol’s gaze, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

 

“A lot of things, really. Mostly the way I butchered our friendship.”

 

Hansol grimaces. “I’d really rather not—“

 

“No, its true,” Seungkwan pushes forward, a determined glint in his eye even as he stumbles with his words. “I mean, we used to be friends, right? I—do you think we can maybe…can we start over?”

 

“What?”

 

“Let’s start over.”

 

Hansol pauses, tilting his head to the side like he does sometimes when he’s trying to understand something better. Seungkwan just keeps looking at him hopefully but Hansol looks so, so lost. He’s probably confused by Seungkwan’s sudden turn around. Seungkwan is definitely not as confident as he usually is when he’s around Hansol, always so sure of the way that he affects the other boy. Seungkwan looks and sounds shy, almost vulnerable. It’s so different from the way that he usually acts that Hansol must see that what he’s saying is important. Important enough to make him nervous if he gets an answer he’s not hoping for.

 

“But,” Hansol starts, a confused pout forming on his lips. “But I thought you didn’t—“

 

“Look,” Seungkwan interrupts in rush, “I do a lot of regretful things in my life. Like I regret when I eat too much so that I feel sick, or when I sing too loud in the shower so the neighbors hear me.” Seungkwan huffs out a laugh at his own words, but his face falls into a look of complete seriousness at his next statement. “But mostly I regret losing you.”

 

Seungkwan says the last part with so much sincerity that he even surprises Chan. He sounds raw and exposed, emphasized by a light blush that works its way up his ears and to the apples of his cheeks. Chan can practically feel the affection coming off of Hansol in waves as he soaks in Seungkwan’s confession, watching the other boy in front of him as it’s his turn again to blush and fidget with nervousness and uncertainty.

 

“Uh.”

 

Chan could scream. Because apparently, Hansol’s brain short circuits in situations like this. All this hard work, down the drain because Hansol is an idiot and can’t form a coherent thought into words. Chan could think of a dozen decent responses besides “uh”, if only he had the power to control Hansol’s thought processes. Maybe he should petition the Council to figure out a way to make that happen, because that’s the only way Chan can think of to recover from this. Because Hansol is frozen to the spot as his brain overloads and Seungkwan—

 

“You still have my number, right?” Seungkwan interrupts Chan’s thoughts with the sudden question. It comes so unexpected, especially with Seungkwan’s earlier behavior, that Chan nearly knocks his head on the door with how fast he turns to look at him in awe. He’s smiling now, reverting to his usual confident self now that he’s knocked Hansol off balance. It’s a really weird kind of flirtation, but at least it seems to be working. 

 

Hansol nods, completely dumbstruck but keeping strong eye contact with Seungkwan. It makes Seungkwan’s smile turn that much wider and brighter. 

 

“Good. Text me when you’re free. We can hang out.”

 

With that, Seungkwan turns to go back into the dorm room. Chan has just enough time to dodge out of the way so that Seungkwan doesn’t run into him. Although, the way Seungkwan floats into the room all awestruck, he might not even notice if he hit an invisible solid thing. He’s all smiles and giggles as he sits back down at his spot around the table, contrasting considerably with the rest of his friends who seem like they didn’t even notice Seungkwan and Hansol leave the room (which is still pretty concerning, but Chan doesn’t really have time to think about that right now).

 

Hansol comes in a few seconds later, a puzzled look on his face. He sits down far away from Seungkwan, and every time their eyes meet, they both turn away and smile to themselves so the other doesn’t see.

 

Chan finds himself smiling, too. He clearly has some more work to do, but at least he’s getting somewhere. He’ll probably have to coach Hansol and soothe Seungkwan, but at least he can see a future now. He can see a future where Hansol and Seungkwan get over their weirdness and go on a date, maybe even fall in love eventually. And it’s all due to Chan, really. It feels pretty damn good, if he’s being honest.

 

But of course, just when things seem to be going right in his life, things take a turn for the worse.

 

After executing a flawless return from the ‘bathroom’ and rejoining his still creepily silent friends, Chan’s phone buzzes in his pocket. And for a second, he thinks it must be one of his friends. But when Chan looks at the message, he realizes that most of his friends who are still talking to him are in this room with him. So really, the only other reasonable sender of a text to Chan at a time like this is the Council of Cupids, and it’s probably not a congratulatory ‘good job getting somewhere on one of your assignments’ text either.

 

Steeling himself, Chan opens the text. He lets out a long sigh as he reads the name. 

 

Not again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for not updating for a month but work is kicking my butt! I also played with the plot and edited a bit, so hopefully this doesn’t seem too rushed or like I’m skipping over stuff but I wanted to make some progress. Thanks as always for all of your comments and kudos, I love hearing from you all and it keeps me motivated!  
> Also, I am obsessed with Oh My. I have not been disappointed by a Seventeen comeback yet; they keep evolving musically while keeping their original vibes and fun choreography and I love it. All of their songs are amazing but Moonwalker is my jam. I could go on, but I need to stop myself because I will not be able to stop.  
> Anyways…who do you think is Chan’s next assignment? It’s probably someone he knows...


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy? :)

 

“What does that even mean?”

 

The question bounces around inside Chan’s skull for a while before he even remembers that he’s probably expected to give a response.

 

A week into his summer “break” finds Hansol (who is supposed to be enjoying his break at home with his family) sprawled across his bed in their dorm, business as usual. Well, almost usual. There are significantly less stray articles of Hansol’s clothes littering the ground and his desk is void of the usual smattering of textbooks and notebooks and other clutter. But Hansol is there, sprawled on his bed so that his head hangs off the side upside down, almost like he’s never left.

 

But he did leave, for a few days. And for a few days Chan almost allowed himself to miss his roommate and the comforting companionship he’d gotten used to for a whole semester. But then Hansol had come bursting quite literally back into Chan’s life and their shared dorm room, practically shoving his phone in Chan’s face and in the midst of an apparent mental breakdown.

 

All because of a text.

 

Honestly, Chan can relate.

 

Because for the past week, Chan has found his new assignment to be quite puzzling. Chan had not only received a text with a name, but also a text with a warning. _Proceed with caution_. That’s what the text had said. He’d never heard of the Council sending anything except names and confirmations of assignments, preferring to deal with a lot of their business through the lengthy exchange of paperwork or face-to-face meetings. The Council could be trying to keep up with the rapidly changing times and the daily life of Cupids Chan’s age by sending a simple text instead, but he can’t be sure that the text is some kind of weird omen either. It kind of makes him wish he was still in contact with his Cupid friends because they could probably offer some insight with their own experience as young Cupids.

 

He hasn’t built up the courage to talk to them yet, still scared that they won’t want to have anything to do with him. In his week alone in his dorm, Chan has had a lot of time to think about what he would want to say to them. Something like _I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick_ but with better wording, maybe. He’ll work up the courage to approach them one day, but as it is, Chan will have to sit and wonder about the mysterious message by himself.

 

_Proceed with caution._

 

What does that even mean?

 

But Hansol probably isn’t asking Chan what his text from the Cupid Council means. He’s probably more interested in the text message he’s received from Seungkwan four days ago and still hasn’t yet figured out how to respond to.

 

“He said ' _Hey'_ , Chan. ' _Hey'._ What does that even mean?” Hansol asks for the probably billionth time in the past hour.

 

“It’s probably a greeting. Kind of like ‘hello’ but more modern,” Chan says trying not to sound condescending, but the pout coming from Hansol’s lips tells him he didn’t really pull it off. Chan winces. “Sorry, I just don’t think it needs to be that complicated. You should just text him back.”

 

“Did I _tell_ you what happened last week?”

 

“At the party? Yeah, you did.” _And I was there to witness the disaster that it was firsthand_ , Chan thinks to himself. He resituates himself on his own bed, where he had been lazily watching random YouTube videos before Hansol had burst in, so that he’s sitting cross-legged facing his distressed roommate.

 

“He said we should hang out,” Hansol reiterates with a far off look in his eyes, probably reliving the words leaving Seungkwan’s lips only days ago.  

 

Chan lets out a deep sigh. He knew going into this that he’d probably have to coach Hansol through some stuff, but this is a bit much. It’s just a text message from a crush, how agonizing can it be? It could be worse, though. Hansol could still be half scared, half scarred from whatever incident had hurt their friendship. At least he’s moved past that and is overanalyzing their interactions like a normal person.

 

“Do you _want_ to hang out?” Chan asks in an attempt to change his tactic, to gauge his interest in Seungkwan, just to be sure. Hansol scrunches his eyebrows together in thought.

 

“I don’t know,” he says after a couple seconds of silence.

 

“Well it sounds like hyung left his invitation pretty open,” Chan reasons. He leans an elbow onto his knee so that he can support his head in his hand, suddenly very tired with everything going on in his life.

 

“What does _that_ mean?”

 

Chan refrains from groaning, but he does make an I-can’t-believe-I-actually-have-to-say-this face. “I think it means whatever you want it to mean. If you want to hang out, text him that you want to hang out. If you want to make out, text him that instead.”

 

Hansol lodges a pillow at Chan, but Hansol’s still half upside down so he misses. Chan sticks his tongue out in retaliation.

 

“Whatever you want to do, I think Seungkwan-hyung made it pretty clear he’s interested.”

 

Hansol doesn’t answer, but he does pull out his phone and stares at the screen for another thirty seconds before tossing it on his bed. Chan groans at his roommate’s stubbornness.

 

“Please text him back hyung,” Chan is practically begging now. “I don’t think I can take much more of this.”

 

Hansol raises an eyebrow in question, which is actually pretty cool to be able to do upright, much less upside down.

 

“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but hyung has been asking me about you,” Chan admits.

 

This spurs Hansol into an upright position on his bed, his hair flopping messily in different directions on his head. It makes him look like an overly-excited puppy. Seungkwan would probably flip his shit if he could see Hansol now.

 

“Really?” he asks breathlessly.

 

Chan nods, tempted to pull out his phone and show off the hefty 136 messages he’s received from Seungkwan in the past week. He’d muted him after the first day, ready to throw his phone out of the window with how many times Seungkwan had asked if he’d heard anything from Hansol.

 

Hansol scrunches up his nose again before taking his phone out, staring at the screen, and then typing something slowly. When he’s done, he looks at Chan expectantly.

 

“What’d you say?” Chan asks wearily, expecting the worst.

 

“I put _‘Hi’_ ,” Hansol says, worrying his bottom lip.

 

“See, was that so hard?”

 

“Yes!”

 

Chan rolls his eyes.

 

“Just wait until you’re texting someone you like,” Hansol warns, glaring at Chan. “Then we’ll see if you think it’s as hard as I say it is.”

 

Chan just rolls his eyes and tunes out Hansol’s rant to go back to his YouTube videos, trying not to smile at how openly Hansol admitted to liking Seungkwan.

 

 

 

The summer brings a lot of free time. Sure, Chan still has work and dance practice and dance classes with Junhui, but all of that doesn’t have to compete with an entire course load of classes that Chan doesn’t really want to take in the first place. He’s seen a lot of his friends over break, too, a lot of them drawn to campus or work or the city. Besides his dance friends and Hansol, Chan has also seen Mingyu at work and Wonwoo walking with Soonyoung to practice. One day Jihoon tracks him down on his jog around campus to hand him a printed copy of a recording schedule. Apparently, he had decided to incorporate each of the Per4mance members’ voices on _Lilili Yabbay_ and just one recording session each wouldn’t cut it. So Chan adds that to his list of things to do that summer and smiles to himself because it seems like everything is finally manageable and enjoyable and coming together nicely.

 

He’s in a major he likes and has a lot of good friends. It’s just the Cupid thing that’s knocking everything off track.

 

Chan is reminded of that one day after dance practice. He goes with Minghao and Junhui and Soonyoung to _Say the Name_ after finalizing the choreography for their second competition piece. It’s kind of become a habit to end up at the café, especially after practice, especially when Junhui starts complaining that he never sees them outside of the studio anymore. He has a huge smile on his face when they sit down in a big booth together, all of their hair still a little damp from rushed showers so that they’re all at a socially acceptable level of smelliness after such a long practice.

 

Chan had gotten so used to coming here to stalk Seungcheol that it’s kind of weird to be here without an ulterior motive. Seungcheol isn’t even on duty, so it’s nice to sit with his friends and relax and leave the Cupid stuff until another day.

 

As always, their talk revolves mostly around dance. Minghao brings up the living situation for the competition in September (his back has been bothering him, he says, and he will _not_ tolerate having to sleep on anything except the finest, softest bed) and Soonyoung’s entire face lights up.

 

“ _Ohmygosh_ ,” he lets out in a rush, “Did I tell you guys?”

 

“Tell us what?” Minghao asks in an agitated tone.

 

“About the house?”

 

“No?”

 

“Well, Kang-seonsaengnim was in charge of booking the house for us to stay at in Busan, right? She got us a big house for all 20 dancers going to the competition. _But_ she accidentally booked it for two weeks instead of one.”

 

“So?”

 

“So that means we get a week of vacation!”

 

“Wait, really?” Junhui asks, eyebrows raised in excitement and a smile playing on his lips. 

 

Soonyoung nods enthusiastically.

 

“Seonsaengnim is gonna release a statement to the competitors about staying for the week after the competition but I know a lot of them have jobs or girlfriends or boyfriends back in Seoul, so I asked if I could invite some people to fill up the house, you know? Like make it worth the money.”

 

“And she said yes, right?” Minghao asks, amusement written on his features.

 

“Of course!”

 

Minghao rolls his eyes. “You are way too spoiled,” he scolds.

 

“Who are you gonna invite?” Junhui asks.

 

“Well you guys are coming for sure, right?” Jun nods while Minghao and Chan shrug their shoulders, unsure. “And then I was thinking we could invite the whole gang. Wonwoo, Seokminnie, Hannie-hyung, Cheol-hyung, Jihoonie—“

 

“Okay, okay get it,” Minghao cuts him off.

 

“That would be cool if we could all vacation together,” Chan says because he thinks it would be really cool to vacation with all of his friends, all in one place. He hasn’t done the whole stereotypical college road trip thing yet, and he thinks it would be really fun.

 

“And Jihoon is from Busan, so he could probably show us around,” Soonyoung adds, his chest practically puffing out with pride at his best friend’s hometown.

 

Junhui starts asking about Busan because he’s never been there. Chan has only been once or twice, so he helps Soonyoung field his questions which is why he probably doesn’t notice the three figures creeping up on him from behind.

 

“Chan?”

 

Chan startles, looking up from his conversation to see Kangmin, Yerim and Tzuyu looming over the table. Kangmin looks sheepish, Yerim looks indifferent, and Tzuyu looks pissed off, her arms crossed over her chest with a glare pinned down on the salt and pepper shakers on the table. Chan gulps.

 

“Chan?” Kangmin asks again timidly now that he has the whole table’s attention. “Do you have a minute?”

 

Chan looks at his hyungs for help, but they just stare at him blankly. “Uh, just give me a minute,” he finds himself saying.

 

Kangmin nods and leads the trio over to another table far away from Chan’s, closer to the counter.

 

Junhui leans in next to Chan. “Who’re they?” he whispers, eyeing them suspiciously.

 

“Some-uh, school friends. High school friends. But now they go here too, so they’re like super school friends,” he rambles, suddenly feeling really nervous. He honestly didn’t think that they would approach him, that they would make him come crawling back only after he’s learned his lesson about how awful life is without them in it. So it kind of throws him off that they’re here now, probably expecting a well thought-out, heartfelt apology when Chan doesn’t really have one.

 

“You okay, Chan?” Minghao asks.

 

“Yeah,” he sighs, shaking his hands out to quell some of the nerves. “We just haven’t been on speaking terms lately.”

 

Soonyoung frowns. “What did they do?”

 

“It wasn’t them, it was me. I kinda ignored them for a while. And maybe lied to them a little bit.”

 

“You should apologize,” Soonyoung says easily, as if it’s that simple. And it kind of is, but Chan doesn’t want to admit it.

 

“Yeah, I know,” he says anyway, clinging to every stray confident thought that flits through his head. There’s not a lot.

 

“If they’re really your friends, they’ll accept you,” Soonyoung continues sagely.

 

That’s what they always said through school. Real friends wouldn’t do that, or only a real friend will stand by you when you mess up.  But things are different in the adult world and friendships can end for a lot of reasons. Chan doesn’t want that to happen though, he really doesn’t.

 

Minghao starts nudging him out of the booth, so Chan grimaces and gets up. It feels icier the closer he gets to the other Cupids. He glances back at his hyungs. They just give him a thumbs-up and Minghao makes a shooing gesture with his hands. It’s all up to Chan now.

 

He sits down gingerly in the chair next to Kangmin, not daring to look anyone in the eye. He notices they’re out of earshot from most of the other tables because it is eerily silent. Nobody talks, probably mulling their thoughts over and unsure of how to start a conversation. The way they all left things, Chan is still so surprised they contacted him at all.

 

“I’m sorry,” Chan blurts out, the tension apparently growing too great. “I’m sorry I lied to you and I didn’t tell you about my assignments.”

 

“Well,” Yerim starts, folding her hands together on the table like she’s a big shot CEO negotiating a business proposal. “We accept.”

 

Tzuyu scoffs at that, brushing her hair away from her face as if to prove a point as she rounds on Yerim. “Don’t do that weird thing where you lump us all together. I’m an individual, so is Kangmin.”

 

“We spend all of our time together, Tzu, we’re basically the same person.”

 

“Just because we feel the same way about this doesn’t mean we’re the same person.”

 

 “Yeah but—“

 

“Guys? Please stop, I thought we were here to apologize too—“

 

Chan tries to stop grinning. As he watches the girls squabble with verbal ping-pong, Kangmin trying to jump in with his opinions too, he realizes how much he’s missed them. He knows they miss him too, from the way Yerim can’t quite keep a smile off of her lips and Tzuyu sends Chan a look that says _can you believe this girl?_ He’s missed his friends, he really has. Even though they fight and bicker and sometimes do stupid things. They’re his friends and he was really stupid too to think that he didn’t need them.

 

The tension eases out of the air as they form a familiar rhythm of bickering, subtly trading apologies back and forth, so quickly and off-hand that someone listening in on their conversation might miss it. But Chan hears it all and is glad that their only fight on this scale can be solved so easily because they know each other so well.

 

“I missed you guys,” Chan says softly, quietly enough so that apparently only Yerim sitting across from him can hear it. She grins at him and leans over so that she can swat at the back of his head, in a friendly way that two people who have known each other for years can, of course.

 

“We missed you too, dumbass.”

 

“You’re doing it again,” Tzuyu snaps with a roll of her eyes.

 

Yerim elbows Tzuyu in the side but the pout on her face remains. Even though everything is already forgiven, Yerim looks like she’s bullying the others into apologizing formally. What a Yerim-thing to do.

 

“ _I’m_ sorry Chan. I was overreacting,” Tzuyu says stiffly.

 

“I guess _I_ just felt kind of left out? You kept this big life event thing away from us and it hurt, but we shouldn’t have treated you like that,” Yerim tacks on.

 

“Yeah, I’m sorry too Chan. I could have handled that better,” Kangmin adds, frowning down at his hands clasped in his lap.

 

“I could have handled a lot of stuff better,” Chan says.  If they’re going to apologize formally, then he will, too. Better to say everything and get it out in the open, just in case. “But I didn’t and I’m sorry. I was just…I was jealous that everybody else got their assignments and I didn’t get mine yet. So when I got it later than everyone I guess I wanted to prove that I could do it on my own.”

 

“Well I’m sorry that we made you feel that way—“

 

“Geez, we need to stop apologizing,” Tzuyu scolds. But the grin on her lips gives her away.

 

Everybody grins back and just like that, Chan feels a huge weight that had been resting on his shoulders and in his gut for the last few weeks ease up and disappear. Suddenly, everything is good and seems to be back to normal. Well, almost.

 

“You owe us now,” Tzuyu continues, leaning forward on her elbows like an interrogator. “I want all the details about your assignment.”

 

“Which one?”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

So Chan tells them everything. He tells them about Seungcheol and then Seungkwan, not leaving out any details. Yerim tells him that one of her friends that got two assignments at once early into her career.

 

“It was kind of like an extra test of character or something,” she says. “But the Council only gave it to her after she completed a successful match first.”

 

While Yerim probably meant it to be comforting, it’s really not. If the Council is testing him, why would they need to test Chan’s character? He’s a good, hardworking young man. Sure, sometimes he gets wrapped up into his own head and pushes people away, but who doesn’t do that from time to time?

 

His friends keep looking at him expectantly, so Chan shakes it off and delves into the story about using his arrows for the first time. He tells them that nothing happened, even after a second shot, so Chan decided to shoot him a third time in the library, the day that Kangmin caught him and everything went to shit.

 

“Are you crazy?” Tzuyu interrupts when Chan tells them he actually can’t be sure that Jihoon got shot the third time. “You shot him for a _third_ time? What if he got Love Sick?”

 

Chan stares at her blankly, then turns to Kangmin for help. Kangmin just shrugs his shoulders and turns to Yerim, who sighs and looks like she severely regrets befriending those two idiots all those years ago.

 

“Honestly, I feel like I shouldn’t be explaining this to someone in the top of our class,” Yerim begins, Tzuyu nodding vehemently beside her, “But, whatever. Okay. Love Sickness is a disease that occurs when someone gets hit with Cupid’s arrows too many times in a certain amount of time. There’s rules about it—“

 

“I know about the rule! No more than one arrow per person per month,” Kangmin recites proudly. Chan sinks lower in his seat as he recognizes the rule he’s memorized and recited so often in school. He’d totally forgotten about it, so caught up in making matches. He starts doing math in his head, trying to remember how much time elapsed between the first time he shot Jihoon and the second. He can’t remember but it has to have been close, maybe too close.

 

“Right,” Yerim says. “Anyways, Love Sickness is super powerful. Humans used to get it a lot before the Council made the rules about it. People with Love Sickness get super fixated on the person they’re falling for, even to the extent of out of character behavior like stalking or committing crimes for the person they love, or becoming physically sick and ignoring their own health.”

 

“People can also become Love Sick if they’re already in love with the person whose arrow you shoot them with,” Tzuyu adds.

 

Chan tries to wrack his brain for any instances of Jihoon acting weird lately, but can’t think of anything. He just saw him the other day and he wasn’t in handcuffs so he probably hasn’t committed a crime. He looked a little tired, but then again Chan hasn’t seen him not stressed and looking tired.

 

“Well I’m not sure if I actually shot hyung the third time because of Kangmin,” he shoots a playful glare at Kangmin who just rolls his eyes, “but he seems to be acting normally. He’s focused on his music as always. If he did anything weird I think Soonyoung-hyung would tell me about it because they’re good friends and Soonyoung-hyung can’t keep anything to himself.”

 

“I’d still keep an eye on him if I were you,” Tzuyu cautions. “I once heard about a painter who got Love Sickness. She didn’t go after the girl she was in love with because it wasn’t accepted at that time, but she got really into her painting. Like day and night just painting and painting and painting, to the point where she almost died because she never stopped to eat or drink or anything.”

 

Yerim must see the slight look of terror on Chan’s face because she nudges Tzuyu.

 

“Stop, you’re freaking him out,” she scolds the other Cupid.

 

Chan can’t help but think that that could totally be Jihoon. He’s already so into his music and prone to overworking himself. Chan makes a note to himself to check in on Jihoon as soon as he leaves the café.

 

“Hey,” Kangmin nudges Chan with his knee. “I think your friends are leaving.”

 

Chan looks over to the other table where Junhui and Minghao are getting up and getting their things together. Soonyoung is already on his way over to Chan, Chan’s bag and his jacket in his hands.

 

“Here you go, Channie,” he says when he reaches them, bowing a little to the others at the table.

 

“Uh guys, this is my dance hyung, Soonyoung. Hyung, these are my school friends Kangmin, Yerim, and Tzuyu.”

 

They all greet each other politely and start up some small talk about the university, completely unaware about how Chan is feeling about this weird clashing of worlds. His Cupid friends and his human friends have always, until this point in time, remained separate. Seeing them meet and talk in real life is bizarre and Chan isn’t sure how he likes it. His Cupid friends know way more about him and the whole big part of his life that he has to keep secret from the others. It’s like they have a leg up on Chan-knowledge and this is the first time he’s felt sad that he could never share his Cupid side with his human friends.

 

Just then, a loud noise from the front of the store makes them all turn in time to see none other than Boo Seungkwan storm through the front doors, practically screaming at the top of his lungs and demanding to see Jeonghan. The employee at the cash register looks terrified and practically runs to the back room. They come back seconds later dragging a sleepy-looking Jeonghan who Chan didn’t even realize was working, though from the looks of it he was just napping in the back room and letting everyone else do the work for him.

 

As soon as he sets eyes on the furious-looking Seungkwan, Jeonghan arranges his face to look carefully blank.

 

“Yah! Yoon Jeonghan! Why did I just get a drunk call from Lee Seokmin, crying about how you broke his heart? You made Seokmin, literal light of this earth, drink himself sick and then call his best friend crying about _you_! What did you _do_?” Seungkwan yells fiercely, all in one breath.

 

Jeonghan doesn’t even look fazed.

 

“Kwan, you’re causing a scene,” he says tiredly.

 

“Don’t you ‘Kwan’ me,” Seungkwan practically snarls at the older boy.

 

Jeonghan sighs.

 

“Let’s talk out back before you get me fired,” Jeonghan drawls lazily and starts walking away from Seungkwan. Seungkwan doesn’t even hesitate to stomp after Jeonghan, almost bowling over the still-terrified cash register employee.

 

“What the fuck just happened?” Soonyoung mutters, sounding baffled. “I’m gonna check in on Seokminnie.”

 

He immediately takes out his phone and starts dialing, looking concerned when Seokmin doesn’t pick up. His Cupid friends turn to Chan, looking varying degrees of scared and confused.  He leans toward the other Cupids, pitching his voice low so that Soonyoung can’t hear.

 

“Did I tell you guys that I just got a third assignment?”

 

Out of all of his new friends and acquaintances he’s made recently at college, this name is probably the last one he’d think to get. Because this person is in a very public relationship with a very handsome boy and up until about a week ago when he got the text, Chan thought that they were still very much in love.

 

Chan takes out his phone and holds it up so that the other Cupids can see the cryptic assignment he’d received about a week ago.

 

 

**Cupid Council:** Yoon Jeonghan.

 

**Cupid Council:** Proceed with caution.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually felt really bad for all of the people who commented hoping that Meanie were next. You’re gonna have to wait a couple more chapters on that one :) *insert evil author laughter here*
> 
> Thanks for all of your comments and kudos! Please continue to let me know what you think!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is kind of all over the place, but I had some time off this week and really wanted to update! Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon!
> 
> Warning for some angst and Seungkwan being not-so-nice to Jeonghan.

 

“Okay,” Yerim says, pencil in hand suspended over one of Chan’s notebooks from last semester. “I’m gonna need you to go over that again.”

 

“Uh, which part?”

 

As soon as Seungkwan had stormed out of the café after yelling at Jeonghan for a solid fifteen minutes, Yerim had practically dragged Chan and the other Cupids back to Chan’s dorm room to debrief. They’ve been interrogating him for the better part of an hour, smoothing out the details of all of his assignments and doing their best to give him advice. They’re all crammed onto Chan’s bed side by side, leaning on each other and throwing ideas around. It’s been so long since they’ve done this all together that Chan can’t even find it in him to complain about being squished.

 

Yerim sighs in annoyance, pushing the point of the pencil onto the page she has flipped open of the notebook, leaving dark smudge of graphite on it. Next to him, Chan hears Kangmin audibly gulp. Sometimes Yerim is scary like that.

 

“The part between the time that you probably shot that Jihoon guy for a third time and when got your third assignment.”

 

“Oh, that.”

 

“Yeah, dumbass,” Tzuyu intercepts, looking as exasperated as Yerim sounds. “That.”

 

Well, a lot had happened over that time.

 

It took Chan a while, a few days, to sort out what had happened between Jeonghan and Seokmin, and even now a lot of the details are fuzzy. All he really knows for sure is that Jeonghan and Seokmin are no longer dating. After all, profiles don’t lie.

 

 

** Yoon Jeonghan **

  * **A.K.A:** Han, Hannie
  * **Age:** 22
  * **Element:** Air
  * **Occupation:** Student at Pledis University of the Arts, Waiter at Say the Name Café
  * **Likes:** people he can take care of, good senses of humor, nice smiles
  * **Dislikes:** vindictiveness, pettiness, clinginess
  * **Orientation:** Gay
  * **Current Status:** Single



 

 

Proceed with caution.

 

Single.

 

Chan spends a day or so mulling over the possible meanings of those phrases, wondering if the caution is aimed at him or at Jeonghan or someone else, wondering how Jeonghan can be looking for love again so soon after being declared newly single. Only after he spends some time thinking about this assignment does he realize that this is the third match in a row that Chan is involved with one or both halves of the Romantic equation. It’s kind of bizarre and Chan would really rather have a stranger as an assignment, but there’s nothing he can really do to change that. As it is, Chan kind of needs to focus.

 

Jeonghan, Chan soon learns through stalking his SNS, is splitting his time between his parents’ home in Seoul and the apartment that he shares with some of his friends just off of campus so that he can keep his job at _Say the Name_ over the summer. But besides a selfie of Jeonghan with his parents on a cute patio with a little white dog, Jeonghan hasn’t posted anything in about a week and a half, so there’s no real clue about what happened between him and Seokmin that Chan can gather from that source. And since all of their mutual friends fail to mention anything about the breakup (the fact made more apparent by Seungkwan’s, uh, _scene_ at Jeonghan’s place of work when he found out), makes Chan thinks he’s sitting on a piece of secret, relatively new information. For whatever reason, Jeonghan and Seokmin are keeping their breakup a secret. Chan is going to have to dig deeper.

 

And he’s really been trying to. Chan drops by Jeonghan’s apartment on three separate occasions, both in his visible and invisible forms, and either Jeonghan wasn’t there or none of Jeonghan’s roommates seemed to know where he was. He even asks Jeonghan’s manager when his next shift is, but he never sees the senior when he’s supposed to be at the café. That’s just about all the digging Chan has been able to do in the last week, and he tells the other Cupids as much.

 

Yerim nods along to Chan’s narrative and starts scribbling something onto the paper, apparently making Chan a “to-do” list because she deems his life to be _that_ out of control at this point.

 

“So who was that yelling at Jeonghan?” Kangmin asks, tilting his head to the side. 

 

Yelling, Chan thinks, is putting it very lightly.

 

 

Looking back at it, everything had happened so fast. The second Seungkwan disappears out the back entrance with Jeonghan, Chan looks first at Kangmin and then at Soonyoung. In an unspoken agreement, the three of them bolt toward the door with Minghao and Junhui close on their heels. Because Soonyoung and the others are there, Chan can’t use any of his Cupid powers, but he can use his human “power” of regular old eavesdropping. And thankfully, Seungkwan gets really shrill when he’s angry so he’s really easy to hear, even through the big metal door that leads to the alley outside.

 

Jeonghan’s voice is harder to hear, but it sounds like he’s standing closer to the door. Probably so he has an exit if Seungkwan decides to attack. But if Seungwkan does get violent, Chan is a little worried that nothing will stop him and Jeonghan will just get an audience to witness his murder. Sometimes Seungkwan is scary like that.

 

Chan presses his ear to the door, squished between Kangmin and Soonyoung with Minghao and Junhui hovering over their shoulders. A few seconds later, Chan hears Yerim and Tzuyu make their way over, too, and together the seven of them huddle around the door listening to Seungkwan verbally pulverize Jeonghan to a messy little pulp.

 

“What the fuck did you do to my best friend?” Seungkwan is saying now, his voice as shrill as ever.

 

It’s hard to make out Jeonghan’s response, but it doesn’t seem to be good enough for Seungkwan.

 

“You’re an asshole Yoon Jeonghan!”

 

“—you don’t know what happened—“

 

“I don’t fucking _need_ to know what happened! My best friend called me _crying_ , saying you broke up with him and he doesn’t know what he did wrong. Tell me again that I don’t know what happened, because it sounds like you’re a major dickwad.”

 

Seungkwan has never been the best at insults.

 

“Please calm down—“

 

He hears Minghao audibly groan while Soonyoung whispers “That was a mistake.”

 

“Do _not_  tell me to be calm! I fucking trusted you, _Seokmin_ trusted you and you of all people should know how special that is. He loved you Jeonghan, what the fuck were you thinking?”

 

If Jeonghan replies, Chan can’t hear it.

 

“What, does that surprise you? He may not have said it in words, probably because you’re an emotionless dick who only shows affection towards other people when he thinks he has an audience and was afraid that you would never say it back, but he showed you he loved you every single fucking day.”

 

“Seungkwan, stop.”

 

“You know what? He’s probably better off without you anyway.”

 

Chan can make out footsteps nearing the door and he and the other eaves-droppers comically scatter. Soonyoung and Junhui book it back to their booth and Minghao actually jumps over the counter in some type of parkour/martial arts move that makes even Tzuyu raise her eyebrows in amazement. The Cupids are a little slower to make it to the safety of the other side of the counter, but they all make it back to their table just in time to hear Seungkwan growl a low threat to Jeonghan to stay away from him and Seokmin for the foreseeable future. 

 

Seconds later, Seungkwan bursts through the door they had all been crowded around and either ignores them all or doesn’t see them through his rage-induced haze. He exits the café quickly and storms off down the street. Chan doesn’t know where he’s going.

 

Jeonghan emerges through the door a few beats after Seungkwan leaves. To his credit, he doesn’t look like he just got verbally assaulted by a sophomore. He looks a little sleepy, a little bored, not a hair out of place. His lack of emotional reaction has something like anger brewing in Chan’s gut. Surely he can’t be as heartless as Seungkwan said he was?

 

Jeonghan makes his way to the cash register, finally looking up at the only remaining customers in the café; Seungkwan had scared everyone else off.

 

“Did you guys already pay?” is the only thing he says. The atmosphere is awkward, and even though Chan feels like he should do something, he finds that he can’t. He splits his bill with Soonyoung, Junhui, and Minghao and then Yerim links her arm through Chan’s, waving goodbye to the other dancers and effectively stealing Chan away to interrogate him.

 

 

 “That was Seungkwan, who did the yelling. He’s Seokmin’s roommate.”

 

“But I thought Seungkwan was one of your assignments.”

 

“He is.”

 

“Well…that’s complicated.”

 

“What’s even worse is that Seungcheol, my first assignment, is totally in love with Jeonghan.”

 

Kangmin’s mouth actually falls open in shock while Tzuyu curses softly under her breath.

 

“What are you going to do?”

 

Chan shrugs. That’s what he’s been thinking about for the past week.

 

Because theoretically, Jeonghan’s breakup with Seokmin is pretty perfect for Seungcheol. If he wanted to, Chan could probably help Seungcheol make a move on Jeonghan now that he’s available and Chan can knock out two assignments in one. But for some reason, this glaringly obvious fix doesn’t sit well with him. First of all, Jeonghan had always looked so _happy_ with Seokmin and Chan isn’t entirely sure the breakup has to stick. Secondly, well, Jihoon. Chan feels really bad for probably making him Love Sick, and though he should probably suck it up and ask Jihoon about his feelings just to clarify the whole Love Sickness thing, there’s a voice in his brain that won’t stop telling him that Seungcheol and Jihoon will be really good together. Once, you know, they actually get together. This whole Jeonghan thing probably won’t help speed that along though. Ugh.

 

Chan groans in frustration.

 

Kangmin throws an arm around Chan’s shoulders and knocks their heads together. Chan catches Tzuyu peering over Yerim’s shoulder and she continues to scribble furiously onto her piece of paper. She hums like she’s unsatisfied at Yerim’s list, and then practically wrestles it out of the other girl’s grasp to start writing her own thoughts on it.

 

After a few minutes, both girls deem the list appropriate and present it to Chan. Hesitantly, he looks over the list.

**Chan’s To-Do List**

 

1\. Make sure Jihoon is not overworking himself to the point of exhaustion because we’re all pretty sure you made the poor guy Love Sick; if he is, you’re going to need help to make sure he doesn’t harm to himself or others (I guess we Cupids can help with that, only if you agree to number 5).

 

2\. Talk to Jeonghan about the break-up; find out if he still loves his ex or if he broke up with him to be with someone else. Talk to Seokmin about it, too; if he’s willing to take Jeonghan back or if he wants to let it be and move on.

 

3\. Make Hansol or Seungkwan ask the other out on a date; the sooner you get these two together, the sooner you can focus on your other assignments.

 

4\. Talk to Seungcheol and see if you can get him talking about his love life. Help him decide: Jeonghan or Jihoon (though if Jeonghan gets back together with Seokmin, you should probably steer him away from that, just saying)

 

5\. Buy Tzuyu, Yerim, and Kangmin ice cream for the next month to make up for your headassery over the last semester.

 

 

After reading the list over, Chan finds that he agrees with most of it (the ice cream is a stretch but Chan guesses he owes it to them). He knows he needs to talk to Jihoon and Seungcheol and Jeonghan and Seokmin, even though thinking about Jihoon makes him feel guilty and he still kind of feels angry at Jeonghan for making no big deal out of apparently breaking Seokmin’s heart. And as much as Chan doesn’t really want to rush Seungkwan and Hansol, it would be kind of nice to have one less assignment to think about.

 

Actually having something physical to look at kind of helps Chan make the beginnings of a plan in his head. He starts formulating, but ultimately, he’s tired of thinking about his own assignments and being the center of attention. He folds the list up, tucks it into his pocket after thanking the girls, and changes the topic. 

 

“How’s your sixteen-year-old going, Min?” he asks.

 

Kangmin rolls his eyes and retracts him arm from around Chan’s shoulders so he can use all of his limbs to accentuate his frustration. “I’ve set that kid up on three separate dates and he didn’t like any of the girls.”

 

“Even the college girl?” Yerim asks, surprised.

 

Kagmin nods and soon the conversation takes off. Chan is grateful for it. He takes a minute to lean back and close his eyes, choosing to focus on his friends’ voices instead of the storm of thoughts swirling around his head, thinking for the billionth time that day how thankful he is to have his Cupid friends back. It’s been a long day and Chan is starting to realize how tired he is.

 

The three other Cupids leave almost an hour later after having dissected Kangmin’s assignment, and then going back to each of Chan’s. It’s nice to have three other brains to pick, even if by the end of their little session Chan is exhausted and his brain is still swimming with all of the things he needs to do.

 

“Stick to your list, Channie. I really think it will help,” Yerim says before she leaves.

 

The list is all he can think about right now, even with sleep threatening to close his eyeballs, so Chan makes himself comfortable on his bed and decides to try to hit two birds with one stone. He pulls out his phone to text Soonyoung.

 

**Lee_Chan:** hey hyung! did you ever get a hold of Seokmin-hyung?

 

**Hoshi:** nah, he didn’t respond to any of my calls :(((

 

**Lee_Chan:** do you know what happened? Seungkwan-hyung seemed really pissed

 

**Hoshi:** I haven’t heard anything until today

**Hoshi:** ngl, Im kinda scared to talk to kwannie right now

 

**Lee_Chan:** me too lol

**Lee_Chan:** but I hope everyone’s ok

 

**Hoshi:** aww Chan, I’m sure they’ll work it out

 

**Lee_Chan:** you think so?

**Hoshi:** I really really hope so

**Hoshi:** as long as I knew jeonghan, he never really dated nice people and minnie was always too timid to approach people if you can believe it

**Hoshi:** they were good while they were together, I just hope that jeonghan didn’t do something too awful that min won’t be able to forgive him

 

**Lee_Chan:** it wasn’t mutual then?

 

**Hoshi:** I don’t think so

**Hoshi:** min was head over heels

**Hoshi:** I’ll keep trying to talk to him tho

 

**Lee_Chan:** ok, I’ll see if I can talk to Seungkwan-hyung when he calms down

 

**Hoshi:** good luck!!

 

**Lee_Chan:** thanks :)

**Lee_Chan:** oh hyung! before I forget, I wanted to ask you about Jihoon-hyung

 

**Hoshi:** oh, what about him?

 

**Lee_Chan:** is he doing okay? last time I saw him he looked kind of exhausted

 

**Hoshi:** hmmmm

**Hoshi:** he kind of goes through cycles sometimes where he works himself too hard

**Hoshi:** I haven’t heard too much from him since finals~~I’ll check up on him tonight :)

 

**Lee_Chan:** okay, thanks!

 

**Hoshi:** so cute, Channie taking care of his hyungs

 

**Lee_Chan:** (◔_◔)

 

 

Despite what Soonyoung says, Chan decides to play it safe and check on Jihoon himself the next day. He doesn’t know for sure where Jihoon is, but seeing as how he is more often than not at his studio, he decides to check there first.

 

The music building is even creepier now that there aren’t really any classes in session. All of the rooms Chan passes are dark and empty and the whole building gives off a weird vibe. It’s like when people go to old abandoned factories or hospitals and everything is too still and silent because buildings like that are supposed to be full of life  and sound and movement, and seeing them empty and deteriorating is just wrong. It’s kind of like that; everything is silent and sad, even Jihoon’s studio. Chan falters outside of the empty studio, wondering where he should look for Jihoon next (maybe the library or his dorm) when a loud, repetitive banging noise attracts his attention.

 

Against his better judgment (the decidedly empty music building already has him spooked enough) Chan follows the banging down the hall and up a short set of stairs. It doesn’t take long, however, for the banging to become rhythmic and controlled and Chan realizes that it’s someone playing a drum set. It gets louder when Chan walks down another gloomy hallway and peeks through the propped open doors of a large room strewn with music stands and chairs and a few musical instruments. His eye, however, is immediately drawn to the figure at the drum set.

 

Luckily, it’s Jihoon and not a ghost. Jihoon’s eyes are closed and he’s wearing a pair of large headphones on his ears. He looks completely comfortable even with his arms flying over the different drums and cymbals, so lost in his own world that even if he did see Chan lurking outside, he kind of doubts Jihoon would stop.

 

Chan doesn’t want to alarm Jihoon but he’s kind of in awe at how peaceful Jihoon looks even though he’s making such a commotion. It’s a good commotion though, and it sounds really good in Chan’s opinion, makes him wonder if there’s a whole song he’s playing along to that’s just composed in Jihoon’s head. He doesn’t realize it, but when he  bumps against the door to get closer and possibly get a video of Jihoon in his natural habitat to send to Soonyoung to tease him with, the light from the sun bounces off the window pane of the door and crosses directly in front of Jihoon’s face.

 

Jihoon opens his eyes at the light, keeping a perfect poker face even when he sees Chan in the doorway, now frozen in a weird sort of crouch because he had recoiled as soon as he realizes he broke Jihoon’s concentration. Jihoon doesn’t stop when he sees Chan, but he does slow down his drumming and starts to look confused as to why a freshman is staring at him when he probably thought he was the only person in the whole building.

 

Jihoon puts his drumsticks down and pulls his headphones off so that they’re hanging around his neck. Chan just waits for him to say something because he’s the one who looks like a creepy stalker right now.  

 

“What are you doing here?” he asks, shaking his hair out of his eyes and shifting a little on his seat behind the drum set. “I don’t think I had a recording session scheduled today.”

 

Chan straightens up and then takes a step forward so that he’s actually standing in the room now. He takes a quick look around at the bare rehearsal room and then shrugs. “I was in the area. Are you, like, drumming away your feelings or something? It was kind of intense, but really cool, hyung.”

 

Jihoon squints at Chan. “Did Soonyoung send you to check up on me?”

 

Chan shakes his head but Jihoon doesn’t look like he believes him. “Why would he even do that?”

 

Jihoon continues to analyze Chan as if he can tell that Chan is lying even though he really isn’t. It’s more like Chan told Soonyoung to check in on Jihoon, not the other way around.

 

Jihoon still looks like he doesn’t believe him, but he puts down his drumsticks and maneuvers himself into one of the empty chairs, muttering something about needing a break anyways. He takes a music stand and moves it so that the top of it is parallel to the floor, draping his upper body onto it and taking out his phone. When Chan doesn’t move, he nudges a nearby chair with his foot.

 

Chan complies and sits down, taking his phone out, too, just for something to do. He tries taking peeks of Jihoon as he scrolls through his phone. He looks a little pale, but then again Jihoon always looks a little pale and a little tired. He looks clean, washed hair and clean clothes, and he doesn’t smell or anything, which means he hasn’t totally thrown himself into the cold, clenched claws of Love Sickness. At least, not that Chan can tell.

 

They sit in silence for a while, which is more comfortable than he thought it would be, even with Chan silently freaking out about Jihoon’s health and well-being. Chan hasn’t spent a whole lot of time alone with Jihoon outside of his studio or walking around campus together, so even just the slight change of scenery is nice.

 

Eventually, though, the silence makes Chan’s skin itch and he needs to start talking. Even though, for some reason, he feels nervous about it.

 

“I didn’t know you played the drums.”

 

Jihoon looks up from his phone and then lays it carefully on the music stand. “I play a lot of instruments actually. The drums are one of my favorites, though, especially when I need inspiration.”

 

“You need inspiration?”

 

Jihoon shrugs. “Kind of. I’m a little stuck on a song I’m writing and sometimes drumming helps.”

 

“Is it helping now?”

 

“Not really, no.”

 

Chan hums. “Soonyoung-hyung told me to take a step away from things when they got to be too much.”

 

“Soonyoung-ah says a lot of things,” Jihoon scoffs, but Chan thinks he sees amusement hidden in Jihoon’s eyes.

 

“What kind of song are you writing?” he asks.

 

“Nothing special, really. It’s a song I want to pitch for work but there’s something off about it and I can’t seem to fix it.”

 

Chan remembers from Jihoon’s profile that he works as a producer, wonders how much time he spends on music for work and music for school. Altogether, that’s a lot of music and it starts to make Chan think Jihoon might be a little Love Sick, especially if he’s holed up in the music building to write songs over summer break. Fuck.

 

“You could ask for a second opinion?” Chan suggests. He waits a second while Jihoon doesn’t respond, and then tentatively adds, “What about Seungcheol-hyung?”

 

Chan thinks he brought up Seungcheol casually enough, but with the weird look Jihoon is giving him, he maybe thinks he should start working on his finesse.

 

“Why would I ask Cheol-hyung about it?”

 

“Well he helped with _Lilili Yabbay_ …”

 

“Yeah, well…I think hyung is gonna be pretty busy soon.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Jihoon shrugs but Chan knows something’s bothering him. Does Jihoon think that Seungcheol will go after Jeonghan now that he’s single? More importantly, does that thought upset Jihoon? Because if Jihoon is upset at the idea of Seungcheol going after Jeonghan…

 

“Jeonghan-hyung?” it just kinds of slips out as Chan is processing, but the name makes Jihoon freeze.

 

After a few more seconds, Jihoon doesn’t meet his gaze, his jaw clenched as he stares determinedly at a spot on the floor. Chan decides to press further.

 

“I guess Soonyoung-hyung told you about the break up,” he says. “He told me they’ll work it out, though. Or at least he hopes they will.”

 

“Soonyoung-ah hopes for a lot of stuff.”

 

For some reason, that makes Chan’s stomach squirm.

 

“Whatever,” Jihoon continues. “They’re all adults. They can solve their own shit. Speaking of, I should probably get back to work, I have a lot to get done.”

 

And just like that, when Chan thought he might actually be getting somewhere, Jihoon shuts himself off to the world and shoves his headphones back onto his ears. He makes his way back to his drum set and starts banging away looking like there’s a gray storm cloud hanging right over his head.

 

Though Chan’s still not really sure that he shot Jihoon with the third arrow and Jihoon is Love Sick, he _is_ sure that Jihoon has feelings for Seungcheol. Whether or not that’s a good thing now is still up in the air. The only thing Chan can do now is keep going.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always for reading and commenting! It means a lot :)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all of your patience with updates! I was busy getting ready to go out of the country (to see BTS in the Love Yourself Tour, because I have priorities) and when I got back I got really sick and updating was like the last thing on my mind (don’t worry, I am much better now!)  
> ON TOP OF THAT I did something stupid and accidentally deleted all of my notes for the entire fic and I’m feeling a little lost??? Like I literally don’t know what happened or how to rescue them so I’m gonna to have to try to remember where I’m going with everything…ugh. This is a mess, but an accurate reflection of my life right now. This is also kind of angsty but that again is an accurate reflection of my life right now. Enjoy :)

 

July brings with it a stifling heat that even the air conditioners in the studio working on full blast can’t beat. Chan has sweat pouring from places he didn’t even know he could sweat from and by the looks of it, Junhui isn’t faring any better. Even the twenty-something kids they have crammed into the studio for ballet class are looking hot and tired and done.

 

Chan shares a look from behind his sweaty bangs with Junhui and he nods his head in silent agreement.

 

“Alright, everyone gather up!” Junhui yells, grinning a little as their little ballerinas and ballerinos come running to flock in front of their beloved teacher. Despite what Minghao had said about Junhui doubting himself in front of other dancers, even tiny ones, Chan thinks Junhui has been doing a great job leading their little gaggle of dancers. They adore him; hang off of his every word and he’s really good at teaching them without being too critical. Chan sometimes just feels like an extra body floating around the room, but then he sees little Seojun put in extra effort to point his toes when Chan gives him attention and it all kind of makes it worth it.

 

“We’re going to end class a little early today,” Junhui continues, immediately mirroring the pouts on Yeseul’s face. Seojun melts dramatically onto the floor with a mumbled “thanks, ssaem,” on his way down.

 

“Ah, bows and curtsies first,” Chan scolds to hide his giggles. He watches with a big smile on his face as twenty-something heads bob totally out of sync in wobbly curtsies and sloppy bows. Chan and Junhui bow back and then chase their little ballerini to the door, explaining to the parents waiting in the lobby about the heat and double-checking that everyone gets some water before they head out.

 

Once all the kids are gone, Chan and Junhui collapse into a heap in the middle of the dance floor, each with handheld fans. The little fans don’t do much, but now that there’s significantly less body heat in the room, it is starting to cool down a little bit.

 

Junhui pulls out his phone to look at while they relax but Chan is content to just stare at the ceiling and let his mind wander for a bit. Some noises of disgust from Junhui, however, prompt Chan to put away his daydreams at least for a few minutes to ask the older dancer what’s wrong.

 

“It’s Jeonghan-hyung,” Junhui sighs. Chan raises his eyebrows in surprise because he didn’t know that Jeonghan and Junhui were close enough to be texting buddies. Junhui must see the surprise on Chan’s face and gives him a grin. “Apparently the younger ones are giving him shit for breaking up with Seokmin, so he’s complaining to _me_ about it because the younger ones _love_ me.”

 

Chan makes a face at that but doesn’t comment. In the past week or so, it’s become common knowledge to their friend group that Jeonghan broke up with Seokmin. The news has even spread to other parts of campus. Yerim calls Chan one day to say that she heard about the breakup from one of her friends who sings in choir with Seokmin.

 

“They were a very popular choir couple, apparently,” she says. “And unnie was very upset when she heard they broke up.”

 

Chan still doesn’t know what exactly went down between the two, but even in a week’s time it’s caused a significant rift in their friend group. Seungkwan blocked Jeonghan from all of his SNS and has even stopped talking to anyone he expects of being on Jeonghan’s “side” just through association.  Chan has no doubt in his mind that Seungkwan is one of the “younger ones” that is giving Jeonghan shit, but he knows that Mingyu has become pretty protective of Seokmin recently as well. Chan is kind of stuck in the middle, which sucks, but the middle is where he has to be if he wants to fix this. If he _can_ fix this.

 

“Honestly, I don’t even think they should’ve dated that long,” Junhui continues. “If Jeonghan didn’t see their relationship lasting anyways, he shouldn’t have asked Seokmin out in the first place.”

 

“How long did they date?” Chan asks.

 

Junhui scrunches his eyebrows in thought. “A couple months. Since November, maybe? Everyone was really excited when they got together. Don’t know why though.”

 

“They were happy, though, weren’t they? At least they looked happy.”

 

“Yeah, but look where we are now,” Junhui says, gesturing with his hands to the invisible mess that is their friend group.

 

“But what about it’s ‘better to have loved and lost’ and all that?” Chan counters.

 

Junhui shrugs. “I still think Jeonghan-hyung did the right thing. He was just leading Seokmin on. It’s irresponsible. Hyung will be leaving school soon and Seokmin will be still in school. They’ll be in completely different worlds for a whole year. And a lot can happen in a year.”

 

Chan tilts his head at Junhui’s logic but doesn’t question it because it’s too hot and his brain is still kind of mushy after assisting that dance class.

 

“Got any plans for tonight?” Junhui asks.

 

Chan shakes his head. It’s only four in the afternoon but it’s a Friday and Chan kind of wants to do something, go out and drink maybe, but campus is kind of dead. There aren’t enough students for a good party and Chan has never really been into bars anyway. Now that Chan has enough free time, he could definitely make it to a “Friday Friend Fest” but he’s pretty sure there probably won’t be any of those in the foreseeable future.

 

In a moment of weakness, Chan sends a text to Seungkwan. And then, in a moment of genius, he sends a text to Hansol, too.

 

He hasn’t seen Seungkwan since the incident at the café but he’s heard from Hansol that he and Seungkwan have been texting pretty constantly. Once he got over the first awkward exchange, it seems that Hansol needs less and less coaching from Chan.

 

“When he said we could start over, he actually meant it,” Hansol tells him over the phone one day. “It was actually super easy to start talking to him again. It’s nice.”

 

Chan has to physically stop himself from yelling at Hansol for being so dumb, but honestly he’s just really happy. Happy for his friends, happy that at least one of his assignments seems to be working out.

 

They still need a bit of a push though, and if Chan tells one of them that he’s hanging out with the other, and they all end up hanging out together, it could be a good first step in the right direction. Or better yet, Chan can ditch both of them and convince them to go on a full-fledged date. Before he can get caught up in a daydream of Seungkwan and Hansol on a date (or think about how weird it is that he’s _having_ a daydream about two of his friends on a date in the first place) Seungkwan texts Chan back first, telling him just to come over to his dorm.

 

 

**Boo:** just come over

**Boo:** i’m thinking about doing something for Seokmin

 

**Lee_Chan:** how’s he doing?

 

**Boo:** he’s pretending to be fine but I can tell he’s hurting

**Boo:** i want to do something to take his mind off of things but i don’t think alcohol would be a good choice considering the drunk call i got…….

**Boo:** so i was thinking we could have a friend get-together instead

 

**Lee_Chan:** a friend get-together?

**Lee_Chan:** can i bring Hansol?

 

**Boo:** ……

**Boo:** he’s already here

 

**Lee_Chan:** wait what?

 

**Boo** : just get your ass over here

 

 

“Actually, hyung, I think something just came up.”

 

Junhui immediately pouts and tries to beg Chan to let him come, too. He thinks about it briefly and then decides against it. Seungkwan said he wanted to do something nice for Seokmin, and though Chan doesn’t think Junhui would do or say anything rude, he thinks Seungkwan might skin him alive for brining one of the “enemy” into his home. So he lies and says it’s a family thing, only feeling a little bad about it.

 

He shrugs. “Maybe I’ll make Wonwoo go to the arcade with me.”

 

Chan cleans up the studio quickly with Junhui before heading back to his empty dorm. He showers, changes his clothes, and then makes his way through the heat to Seungkwan’s dorm. He’s working up a sweat just from walking when he idly starts to wonder about what the point of summer vacation is to all of his friends if they’re just hanging around campus all the time anyways.

 

It’s almost six o’clock when Chan finally gets to Seungkwan’s dorm, and is pulled inside by the sophomore, looking as frantic as ever.

 

“Help,” Seungkwan whispers to Chan. “I don’t know what the fuck is happening.”

 

“What do you mean?” Chan asks, peering over Seungkwan’s shoulder. He briefly sees Seokmin, looking a little pale, sitting on the floor cross-legged across from a stiff-looking Hansol, when Seungkwan puts his face right in front of Chan’s to block his view. Chan cringes and takes a step back.

 

“It’s so awkward,” Seungkwan whines, glancing over at the uncomfortable scene behind him. It seems that neither Seokmin nor Hansol knows what to say to the other, no doubt knowledgeable about how important they each are to Seungkwan. This would be a lot funnier if Seungkwan wasn’t asking Chan to help him.

 

“Well, you did just introduce your boyfriend to your best friend who just broke up with _his_ boyfriend, so—”

 

“Hansol is _not_ my boyfriend,” Seungkwan interrupts, though it doesn’t sound very convincing to Chan. He’s about to say as such, but then he sees Seokmin stand up and make his way over to them. He gestures at Chan to keep quiet and then sneaks up on Seungkwan, effectively scaring him when he jumps about a foot in the air.

 

Seokmin’s laughter seems genuine, especially when Seungkwan turns around and punches him in the arm. But when Chan looks closely, there’s something a little off, a little forced. He doesn’t really know Seokmin that well, but he can see what Seungkwan had texted him about. He’s putting on an act and it makes Chan’s heart hurt.

 

He goes along with it, though, and grins when Seokmin pulls him into a friendly hug, ruffling his hair a little when he pulls away.

 

“Nice to see you again Chan,” Seokmin says a little too cheerily, though Chan is more distracted by Seungkwan mouthing “see?” at him from behind Seokmin’s back. Chan internally rolls his eyes.

 

“What are we doing tonight?” he asks instead.

 

“Oh, you know,” Seungkwan starts, herding both Chan and Seokmin over to where Hansol is still sitting on the floor looking stiff and hyper-aware of everything and everyone around him. “I was thinking movies, junk food, the usual. Maybe we can order some pizza later.”

 

Chan sits down next to Hansol and nudges him with his foot. He wants to convey a message along the lines of _chill_ or _stop looking so constipated_ , but apparently it doesn’t translate and Hansol just makes a pained expression at Chan, eyes darting between him and Seungkwan. As his roommate, Chan should be well-versed in this weird Hansol-language, but right now he’s drawing a blank. Chan just shrugs and tries to look interested as Seungkwan starts listing off possible movie titles from his personal collection.

 

But Hansol pulls at Chan’s sleeve, eyes moving frantically.

 

“What?” Chan whispers, pulling his sleeve out of Hansol’s grasp.

 

“I don’t know what to do,” Hansol whispers back.

 

Seungkwan and Seokmin are now hovering over Seungkwan’s laptop, scrolling through his Netflix, so it actually seems like a pretty good time to have a hurried pep talk.

 

“About what?” Chan asks, even though he’s pretty sure he knows the answer to that.

 

“Seungkwan.”

 

“I thought you said things were good now!”

 

“They are! I mean mostly we just text I haven’t actually seen him in person since—”

 

“Hyung, you are physically putting me in pain right now.”

 

Hansol looks like a kicked puppy and Chan immediately regrets his words. He takes a breath to find a nicer way to express his exasperation.

 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. Just—just act normal, alright? Try to relax—take a deep breath—and relax. You look constipated.”

 

Hansol now looks horrified at the thought of appearing that way in front of his crush. Chan could cry because that’s not what he meant. Switching tactics, he looks over to Seungkwan.

 

“Hey Seungkwan-hyung?” he calls. Seungkwan turns around and grunts in response. Attractive. “Hansol-hyung has pretty decent taste in movies, why don’t you let him help you pick one?”

 

Seungkwan beams at the idea and beckons a still-terrified-but-not-as-constipated-looking Hansol to huddle over his laptop with.

 

Seokmin backs away, sending some finger-guns to Chan. “Nice work, Chan,” he whispers when he takes up Hansol’s old seat.

 

Chan just shrugs, but takes a moment to admire how good Seungkwan and Hansol look next to each other. Or the backs of their heads, anyways.  As he watches, Seungkwan says something that makes Hansol smile and Chan sees his roommate physically let go of some of that nervous tension. Maybe this Cupid thing isn’t so hard after all.

 

But one look at Seokmin’s wistful expression as he watches the budding couple knocks that sentiment right out of his head. As proud he is of Seungkwan and Hansol slowly making progress, he has bigger things to worry about tonight. Mostly, that big number 2 on the to-do list tucked safely away in the top drawer of his dresser. _Talk to Seokmin about it, too; if he’s willing to take Jeonghan back or if he wants to let it be and move on._

But how does one breach the topic of a recent breakup with someone who’s been dumped? _Hey Seokmin, how’s the heartbreak treating you? Awful? Well, thanks for sharing anyways._

Yeah, that won’t work.

 

Seokmin, to his credit, looks okay. Maybe a little pale, a little bit of sadness painted at the edges of his eyes when he looks at Seungkwan and Hansol, but he seems okay. Not the sobbing, snotty mess that Chan thought that he might encounter when he showed up tonight. And sadly, there aren’t a lot of Cupid tricks Chan can use to make him open up, unless Seokmin is prone to soliloquizing and Chan just happens to be invisible and in the area to witness it. Most Cupid teachings are about how to get people together, not about what to do when they’re not together anymore.

 

Most likely, Chan is going to have to go about this the old-fashioned way; he’s just going to have to be a good friend, maybe push a little, and hope that Seokmin trusts him enough to talk about it eventually. Ugh, _eventually_.

 

Seungkwan and Hansol soon come to a consensus and turn on _Spirited Away_. Hansol, the shit, had apparently caved and let Seungkwan pick his favorite movie just to prove further how far gone he is. Seokmin notices it, too, but doesn’t say anything besides giving Chan a conspiratorial eye-roll as the opening credits start.

 

As it hasn’t been that long since he last watched this movie, Chan keeps finding his attention drifting over to observe Seungkwan and Hansol. They are sitting next to each other on the floor on the other side of Seokmin, but there is an embarrassing amount of space between them. He catches Hansol’s eye and jerks his chin at him, trying to communicate _do something, you idiot._

 

Apparently Hansol gets his message and even though Chan can actually see the sweat forming on his forehead and his eyes are the size of quarters, he gives this weird cough and scoots a few inches closer to Seungkwan. Still not touching, with an inch of space between their shoulders. Seungkwan, who has been pretty glued to the movie, looks over at Hansol, whose eyes are glued to the laptop screen, and rolls his eyes. But Chan can see him grin when he returns his attention to the movie. Chan gives Hansol a discreet thumbs-up. He tried, right?

 

Only about halfway through the movie, Seungkwan looks at his phone and announces that the pizza has arrived.

 

“I didn’t know you already ordered it Kwannie,” Seokmin says. Seungkwan just shrugs and stands up.

 

“Chan, come with me!” Seungkwan whines, already tugging at Chan’s arm and pulling him up from the floor. Chan doesn’t fight it, though he does grumble and allows himself a very mature pout before he gets shoved unceremoniously toward his shoes. Hansol looks panicked at being alone with Seokmin again, but Chan hears Seokmin casually ask Hansol about his intentions toward his beloved roommate and he figures he’ll be just fine by himself. Probably.

 

As soon as the door closes behind them, Seungkwan starts talking. “It’s not just me, right? He’s being weird.”

 

“Hansol?”

 

“No, Seokmin!”

 

“Oh, yeah. I guess.”

 

“Wait, Hansol’s being weird?”

 

“I mean, not any more than usual.”

 

Seungkwan swings to hit Chan’s arm, but Chan dodges it, laughing triumphantly when Seungkwan sticks his tongue out at him. The hallway they are walking down cuts off to a stairwell that leads down to the lobby, and though Chan considers running back to the dorm, he obediently follows his hyung down the stairs. The stairwell is empty, so Chan decides to test the waters.

 

“I was there, you know,” Chan says quietly, trying to gauge Seungkwan’s reaction.

 

“What?”

 

“In the café. When you yelled at Jeonghan-hyung.”

 

Seungkwan scowls. “He deserved it.”

 

“Do you know what happened? Between Seokmin-hyung and—”

 

“No. Seokminnie-hyung won’t talk about it.”

 

“Any ideas? Were they fighting or—”

 

“What does it matter anyways?” Seungkwan spits out. “Jeonghan is shit and I hope I never have to speak to him again.”

 

“You don’t think they’ll get back together?” Chan asks, trying not to let Seungkwan squash all his hopes about the only outcome he can possibly see in this already really messy situation. To Chan, at least, there’s no one else he can picture with either Jeonghan or Seokmin. And he hopes that their separation won’t make their fractured friend group permanently in conflict after choosing sides.

 

They reach the lobby, though Chan can’t see any pizza guy in sight. Seungkwan doesn’t even pause in answering his question, though.

 

“Over my dead body.”

Chan doesn’t have time to process Seungkwan’s response or try to make him see reason, because suddenly two tall, familiar figures are making their way into the building carrying at least six pizza boxes between them.

 

“We heard a distress call,” Mingyu sings out, stopping a bit in front of Chan and Seungkwan, Minghao at his side.

 

Chan tilts his head. “You guys deliver pizza now?”

 

“We’re invited to Seungkwan’s rival ‘Friday Friend Fest’ thing,” Mingyu says.

 

Chan turns to Seungkwan. “You didn’t.” Suddenly Seungkwan’s invitation to spend Friday with him and Hansol and Seokmin makes sense. Only Seungkwan could take a cheer-up party for Seokmin and turn it into a ruse to get back at Jeonghan and steal Friday Friend Fest.

 

“Oh, he did,” Mingyu says with a devious smile.

 

Seungkwan just shrugs. “It always sounded like fun when Seokmin-hyung talked about it, and since we’re not talking to _those_ people anymore, I thought it would be easier to just host our own.”

 

Chan groans and doesn’t fight it when Mingyu and Minghao shove all of their pizza boxes into Chan’s arms. Honestly, he just wanted to have fun tonight but now he’s been tricked into Seungkwan’s stupid plan. He really, really needs to fix whatever is happening between Jeonghan and Seokmin before Seungkwan accidently starts a full out war.

 

The walk back to the dorm is uneventful, barred from when Chan almost drops all of the pizzas down the stairs, but Seokmin practically bounces over to the door when he sees that Mingyu is now with them.

 

“Wow, I didn’t know everyone was coming!” he shouts, arms around Mingyu. He pauses before pulling Minghao into a hug, too, though Minghao looks startled at the sudden show of intimacy from a person he’s only meeting for the second time.  

 

“Almost everyone,” Seungkwan interrupts, pushing past the mess of juniors at the door to give Hansol a shy smile and wave. “I invited Soonyoung-hyung, too.”

 

“Soonyoung-hyung is coming?” Chan asks. He puts the pizzas down on the nearest surface which happens to be Seokmin’s bed and takes out a slice because he’s hungry and no one bothered to help him with the pizzas so he feels like he deserves it anyways.

 

Seungkwan nods, disappearing to the little kitchenette and coming back with plates and napkins. He shoves one of each at Chan with a disapproving look.

 

“He’s the only one of _them_ who actually cares about Seokminnie-hyung, so I told him we were hanging out.”

 

The whole room goes silent at the statement. Seokmin looks embarrassed, his face flushing a little bit. He doesn’t meet anyone’s eye either. Seungkwan tries to play it off and starts shoving pizza at everyone, but things remain a little awkward.

 

The six of them settle on the floor and on the beds with pizza, not really talking because Seungkwan went and made everything weird. Now everyone is thinking about the ones who aren’t here and why and the break-up and—

 

Somebody knocks on the door. Seungkwan dutifully gets up to open it, revealing a beaming Soonyoung on the other side.

 

Soonyoung greets all of them ecstatically, pulling each of them up to give them a hug. The mood eases now that Soonyoung is here, cheery and excitable, and Chan is genuinely happy to see the senior, too.

 

Soonyoung immediately gets easy conversation flowing. He asks how they all know each other, tells an embarrassing story about Minghao from the first time that they met which has Mingyu practically rolling on the floor in stitches and Minghao threatening to break his arm. He picks up pretty fast on how close Seungkwan and Hansol are sitting next to each other (no more weird coughing incidents as an excuse to get close to one another, thank goodness) and joins Seokmin in teasing them about it.

 

Seokmin gets a phone call and says that it’s his mom, so he steps out into the hallway to take it because it’s pretty loud in the room now thanks to Soonyoung. Chan briefly contemplates following Seokmin outside to see if he can get some one-on-one time to hopefully get some answers about where he stands with Jeonghan, but Soonyoung immediately puts on a serious face and beckons them all toward him.

 

“Guys, this is getting serious,” he starts once they’re all dutifully huddled around Soonyoung. “Jeonghan-hyung and the others are all over at Seungcheol-hyung and Jisoo-hyung’s apartment.”

 

“So?” Mingyu asks, looking confused.

 

“So?! It’s Friday and we always spend those together! I know things are weird but—”

 

“Are you about to suggest that we actually go over there and socialize with those losers?” Seungkwan interrupts.

 

“I mean maybe not _now_ ,” Soonyoung says, his eyebrows wrinkling in concern, “but I don’t think it’s good that we kind of split ourselves up—”

 

“We wouldn’t have to choose sides if Jeonghan was a decent human being,” Seungkwan says smoothly. Mingyu nods firmly beside him.

 

“We don’t even know what happened—”

 

“Look hyung, I get that you’re trying to play devil’s advocate or whatever, but Seokmin-hyung is my friend and my roommate and whatever that dirt bag did or said to him was cruel. They’re not together anymore so I don’t have to put up with him anymore,” Seungkwan says.

 

“I don’t think Jeonghan-hyung actually meant whatever he said,” Soonyoung says firmly. “You guys don’t see it but he’s kind of a mess right now, too. And being petty and refusing to talk to friends who aren’t even directly involved in the breakup isn’t going to make everything right again.”

 

Seungkwan opens his mouth to say something more, but surprisingly, Hansol speaks up.

 

“Uh, I don’t really know super well what’s happening and I don’t know Jeonghan-ssi at all, but I think Soonyoung-hyung is right. Everyone was friends before this, right?” he asks. Reluctantly, Soonyoung, Mingyu, and Minghao nod. Seungkwan pouts, but doesn’t say anything.

 

“And Seokmin-hyung probably doesn’t want his friends to fight because of him. He’s a good person and I think we need to let them work out their problems for themselves. I get that you want to protect him, and that makes you good people too, but I think we might be going about it the wrong way. I’m not saying things will be sunshine and roses but if you guys can make up then maybe Jeonghan-ssi and Seokmin-hyung can become friends again, too,” Hansol finishes calmly.

 

Minghao just shrugs but Seungkwan is gazing at Hansol with an odd look on his face, weirdly quiet.

 

“I don’t really have anything against the others, but I don’t know if I want to talk to Jeonghan-hyung anymore after he made Seokmin cry like that,” Mingyu starts after a couple beats of silence. “And his unemotional reaction to it makes it seem like their whole relationship was just one-sided and if that’s the case, he’s a major asshole for dragging it out this long—”

 

Movement from the doorway disrupts the end of his sentence and Chan turns just in time to see the door closing on the retreating figure of Seokmin.

 

“Fuck.”

 

“How much do you think he heard?”

 

“Enough.”

 

“Shit guys, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

 

“I’ll go talk to him,” Chan volunteers. Everybody else looks too ashamed about talking about their friend and his failed relationship behind his back to try to stop him, so Chan hops up and wanders out into the hallway to search for Seokmin. He’s trying to come up with something smart or comforting to say when he finds him, but when he sees Seokmin in the stairwell with his legs pulled into his chest, everything kind of flies out of his head.

 

Seokmin looks downright pitiful in the cold lighting of the stairwell, pale and thin with glassy eyes and something like embarrassment or guilt hanging from his shoulders. Chan doesn’t know what to say so he doesn’t say anything. He settles beside Seokmin, models Seokmin’s pose by hugging his legs to his chest, and just sits there. They sit there for a while, letting the minutes tick by with no disruption from their friends or other students stomping up and down the stairs. It’s quiet and white and strangely mind-numbing and when Chan’s ass starts to go numb, too, Seokmin finally speaks.   

 

“I know this is a pity party,” he says. His voice comes out strained and fragile, not full of the booming cheerfulness it usually possesses.

 

“I…I love Seungkwan. He’s a really good friend,” he continues slowly. “But…I think I would appreciate it if nobody continued to blow things out of proportion? You know what I mean?”

 

“Yeah, hyung. I get it,” Chan says. And he does, kind of. Break-ups happen and not everyone sees them as big emotional break-downs. But something still feels out of place with this particular break-up. Seokmin and Jeonghan were together for a while and looked genuinely happy in each others' presence, genuinely looked in love. Sure, some break-ups are mutual and end with no real ill feeling, but Seokmin does not look like the poster child for that kind of break-up right now.

 

Seokmin gives Chan a small smile. “Thanks. I keep trying to tell Seungkwan it’s not a big deal, but he won’t listen. I know he’s being mean to…well all the hyungs but I just want everything to be normal. I-I like spending time with Jisoo-hyung and Wonwoo-hyung and the others I don’t want to lose them over something that’s not a big deal.”

 

“But is it big deal, hyung?” Chan asks and then immediately regrets it when Seokmin’s smile vanishes. “I mean, you don’t have to get over it just for your friends. It’s okay to be sad or, like, angry. It’s okay to hurt.”

 

Chan says it because he really thinks Seokmin needs to hear it, even if it’s awkward and makes Seokmin sad in the process.

 

Here in the stairwell at nearing 9 pm on a Friday night, it looks like Seokmin is finally allowing himself to be vulnerable, to be sad and hurt and angry. The outline of his mouth tips into a frown.

 

“I mean,” Seokmin starts quietly, his voice suddenly thick and hoarse at the same time. “I’ve never—I haven’t even uh, broken up with someone before. But—but I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. So just…I just don’t want anyone to make a big deal. Please don’t pick sides, okay? I don’t want that.”

 

“Okay, hyung, I won’t.”

 

Seokmin gives a weak, forced smile. Chan realizes that he would rather see Seokmin wear that sad frown again than paste another fake smile on his face.

 

“This is all kind of sucky, isn’t it?”

 

Chan shrugs. “A little. But it’s not your fault. I think everybody just needs some time to process and calm down.”

 

“Yeah, yeah. It will be okay. I’m fine, just being overdramatic.”

 

Chan hums. Neither of them believes that right now.

 

“Thanks Channie. We should get back, yeah?”

 

Chan nods, not feeling like anything has really been accomplished. He stand up and follows Seokmin out of the stairwell, down the hallway, thinking and thinking about something to say to make things right or to get an answer. So right before they get back to the room, Seokmin’s hand only inches from the door handle, a question that has been bubbling at the back of Chan’s head for hours finally forces its way out and into the air.

 

“Do you still love him?”

 

Seokmin stops, turns around to face Chan with another fake watery smile on his face.

 

“Yeah. But he doesn’t feel the same. And I know I can’t do anything to fix that. There’s no way to _make_ someone love me, so I just have to deal with it.”

 

With that, Seokmin turns and enters his dorm, leaving Chan standing alone with his thoughts in the hallway.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave up, especially after I lost my notes, and everyone just kind of magically knows everyone else and they're all friends now. Just roll with it, I know I am. I blame any other inconsistencies on losing my notes too, but let me know if there’s anything that really sticks out!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Now that I have a new and (hopefully) improved outline after I lost my old one, the updated chapter count is about 30+ and no one can stop me.  
> Some warnings for people being mean/yelling at Jeonghan (poor guy).

Chan is still standing in the hallway a minute later when Soonyoung’s head pops out of the door, his expression concerned.

 

“You okay?” Soonyoung asks.

 

“No,” Chan says simply. Because he’s not.

 

Seokmin had said that Jeonghan didn’t love him back and that’s why he broke up with him. But if Jeonghan doesn’t love him then why does Chan have him as an assignment, as someone who is ready and actively looking for love? Something doesn’t add up and seeing Seokmin so sad and cold has ignited something in him, something that makes him want to get to the bottom of whatever the fuck is happening here. And for the first time, Chan can understand Seungkwan’s outburst at the café.

 

And while Chan can’t _make_ Jeonghan love Seokmin, he certainly can help Jeonghan see the error of his ways and help him find love (with Seokmin) again.

 

“Oh, what happened? Seokmin came back in and basically told everyone to chill and not take sides or something but then Mingyu started apologizing and like begging forgiveness, but Minghao told him to shut up and—”

 

“Hyung, you said everyone was at Cheol-hyung and Jisoo-hyung’s apartment?” he interrupts, the beginnings of a plan forming as he speaks.

 

“Uh, yeah? Why?” Soonyoung looks confused.

 

“Even Jihoon-hyung?” he asks.

 

Soonyoung nods. “Yeah, I think so.”

 

“I just remembered I have a recording session with him tonight, I have to go.”

 

“Oh. Uh, okay. Chan can I just ask you something first?” he asks, biting his lip.

 

Chan shakes his head and pushes past Soonyoung to grab his phone from Seungkwan’s bed. “Sorry hyung, I have to go. You know how Jihoon-hyung is.”

 

Chan registers Soonyoung’s fallen expression but he really can’t stay and he really needs to go to Seungcheol’s apartment _right now_. So he apologizes to the others when he tells them he has to meet Jihoon. Seungkwan looks at him suspiciously, but Seokmin gives him a goodbye hug and tells him to have fun, as if he hadn’t been on the verge of crying just minutes beforehand.

 

Chan has to take a bus and then walk a few blocks to get to Seungcheol’s apartment, which gives him plenty of time to finish the details of his plan on the way. Basically, Chan’s plan mostly consists of him bursting into the apartment and demanding to speak to Jeonghan about his love life. And the closer he gets to the apartment, the more he realizes how stupid that is, not to mention how very conspicuous and potentially dangerous it is to his cover as a normal college freshman.

 

So when he actually gets to the apartment, he stands frozen a few feet in front of the door, not sure at all about what to do. He can hear music spilling from inside, and the shadowy silhouettes of people moving around behind the curtains in the windows. Chan debates and watches as one of the silhouettes becomes less shadowy and more solid, like the person is coming closer to the window. And then a non-silhouette face peeks out from behind one of the curtains making him jump.

 

Jihoon opens the door and Chan can hear the music more clearly. Its soft hip-hop, probably something Seungcheol picked. He also sees Junhui look outside over Jihoon’s shoulder and watches him grin when he realizes Chan is standing outside probably looking like a scared baby rabbit.

 

“How’s it going, Channie?” he asks, pushing Jihoon aside to sling his arm over Chan’s shoulders. “All done with that family business?”

 

“We don’t have recording today,” Jihoon says bluntly. “Soonyoung texted me that’s why you came over.”

 

“Oh,” is all Chan can say because Junhui is now physically pushing Chan inside and Chan realizes that Junhui is scarily strong when he wants to be.

 

“Guys, look what I found!” Junhui calls out to the small group of people assembled in Seungcheol and Jisoo’s apartment

 

The atmosphere, Chan picks up quickly, is not as awkward and careful as Seungkwan and Seokmin’s dorm had been. The atmosphere in _this_ room is charged and strained, and it looks like many of them, including Junhui, had resorted to drinking as a way to try to ease the tension.

 

Jisoo and Jeonghan are sitting at opposite ends of the couch, glowering at each other, but Jisoo quickly rearranges his features into a welcoming smile when he sees Chan, informing him about the location of the snacks and telling him to help himself. Seungcheol is sitting at the kitchen table holding a can of beer that is identical to the several empty-looking ones sitting beside him. Wonwoo is sitting on the floor on the other side of the room by a small speaker still blaring music, scrolling lazily through a playlist on his phone. Apparently Wonwoo likes hip-hop too.

 

Junhui, his arm still around Chan’s shoulders, steers him past the couch and directly to the kitchen table. It takes a few tries, but he finds a full, un-opened can of beer and shoves it into Chan’s hands.

 

“Everything is a shitshow, but you’re welcome to stay and watch it with me,” he whispers behind a grimace.

 

“Please,” Jihoon adds, coming up behind Chan and sifting through the cans on the table to find one of his own. “Jisoo-hyung is keeping us here because he says he misses us, but he’s just arguing with Jeonghan-hyung.”

 

Well…Chan did plan on drinking today. But that was hours earlier and Chan came here with a plan. Kind of. It mostly fell apart and now that it looks like Jeonghan and Jisoo are fighting, he doesn’t know if he should get involved. But now might be one of his only chances to try to get Jeonghan to talk about what happened with Seokmin.

 

Chan clinks his can with Junhui’s and then Jihoon’s and takes a swig. The three of them gravitate toward Wonwoo huddled next to the speaker. Junhui immediately starts bugging Wonwoo to let Junhui pick a song, and Wonwoo tries valiantly to ignore him.

 

Jihoon is quiet, more so than usual, and his frequent glances to the kitchen table and its sole occupant tugs at Chan’s heartstrings. He wishes he could do something for Jihoon, but Seungcheol looks weirdly dazed and keeps his gaze carefully trained on the window leading out to the gorgeous view of the parking lot outside. The only thing that hints at his being conscious is when he takes a sip every so often at his beer. So not really a whole lot Chan can do, especially when he’s already set of fixing Jeonghan and Seokmin’s relationship tonight. Chan mentally apologizes to Jihoon and promises to work on Seungcheol the next time.

 

It doesn’t take long for things to escalate. Jeonghan and Jisoo have been bickering quietly the entire time, pausing only when Chan entered the room and once when Jisoo chastised Junhui for making Wonwoo play the new Wanna One song a second time in a row. Their tones are kept low, but the more they drink and the more heated it gets, the louder they become and now Chan can hear everything that they’re saying.

 

“Get your head out of your ass, Jeonghan,” Jisoo says.

 

Wonwoo huffs out a sigh and tries to turn up the music, but Junhui swats his hand away.

 

“That’s rich coming from you,” Jeonghan continues over the music.

 

“I don’t know what you mean. You’re the one that’s been sleeping on my couch for the past two weeks.”

 

Oh. Maybe that’s why Chan hasn’t been able to find Jeonghan at his own apartment.

 

“Sorry I didn’t know I was such a bother to my _best friend_.”

 

“It’s _because_ I’m your best friend that I’m telling you to get your head out of your ass!” Jisoo exclaims.

 

Jeonghan scoffs. “I’ve had enough of people yelling at me, thanks.”

 

“Well maybe if you weren’t such a butt, people wouldn’t have to yell at you!”

 

“Why are we even here again?” Wonwoo grumbles quietly, too low to be heard by either Jeonghan or Jisoo.

 

Jihoon shrugs and takes a sip of beer. “I don’t even know anymore.”

 

“Should we leave?” Wonwoo asks.

 

Jihoon just shrugs again and takes another sip. “I bet they won’t even notice if we did.”

 

Despite Jihoon’s statement, none of them make a move to leave.

 

“You should have accepted my offer to go to the arcade, Wonwoo. Just look where we are now,” Junhui says dramatically, still halfheartedly dancing to Wanna One from his seat.

 

“I hate being friends with you people,” Jihoon grumbles.

 

“You’re being immature!” Jisoo’s voice swells above the music again. Wonwoo puts his head in his hands.

 

“Well you’re the one who isn’t respecting my choices!”

 

“Because they’re wrong!”

 

“Look, we all know you thought the sun shone out of his ass and he would magically fix me but—”

 

“I never thought he would fix you Jeonghan, because there’s nothing about you to fix. I only thought he would love you and care for you and it would make you realize how worthy of love you are!”

 

“Cut the self-love bullshit, Jisoo. He’s too good for a shitty person like me, I’m honestly doing the world a favor.”

 

“But you love him!”

 

“Do I? Apparently I’m a callous jackass who only shows affection to others when I have an audience.”

 

Jisoo groans in frustration. “You need to stop absorbing what other people say about you and making it your personal truth. I thought you were, like, tough or whatever!”

 

“Yeah, well I guess it just goes to show what a shitty friend I am that you don’t even know about my defining personality traits.”

 

“Well I know that one of your defining personality traits is being a stubborn ass who doesn’t own up when he makes a mistake!”

 

“I make a lot of mistakes, Ji, so why are you fighting me so much on this one?”

 

“Because I love you and I know you love him, you’re just too scared to admit it!”

 

“Would you _stop_ trying to tell me how I feel?”

 

“So you never for a second thought you loved Seokmin or that you saw a future with him? Because I know for a fact that you were apartment hunting for a place close to campus for next year even though you’re graduating. Why would you do that, unless you were planning on sticking around for Seokmin?”

 

“Uh, duh? There’s other people I care about here other than Seokmin—”

 

“AHA! So you DO care—”

 

“For fuck’s sake Jisoo—”

 

“Jeonghan, please. Listen to Jisoo.”

 

Both Jeonghan and Jisoo turn to Seungcheol, still sitting at the kitchen table with a beer in his hands. He looks tired and thoroughly fed up with their arguing, has probably _been_ fed up with it for however long Jeonghan has been staying with them.

 

“We all know you have issues with commitment,” Seungcheol continues, steamrolling over Jeonghan’s protests. “All those guys you dated for less than a month and then broke up with? You were terrified of actually opening yourself up to love. And then Seokmin shows up, and who can’t help but fall in love with him?” he finishes with a wistful smile.

 

Jeonghan starts tearing up (though Chan can’t tell if it’s because he’s drunk or if Seungcheol’s words are getting to him), and Jisoo’s entire demeanor changes. He surges forward on the couch and takes Jeonghan’s hands in his own. The action of comfort only makes Jeonghan’s shoulders start shaking and he buries his face on Jisoo’s shoulder.

 

“It’s okay to be scared,” Seungcheol continues. “But it’s not okay when your knee-jerk reaction to being scared is to kick someone you love to the curb and then cut off all communication with them. Have you talked to Seokmin since then, given him any sort of closure?”

 

Jeonghan shakes his head, never lifting his face from Jisoo’s shoulder.

 

“You should talk to him.”

 

Well. Chan certainly hadn’t been expecting that. He hadn’t expected to sit idly in his seat, too entranced by what was happening in front of him to actually do anything. He hadn’t expected Jeonghan and Jisoo to fight and for Seungcheol to be the one to help Jeonghan with his apparent emotional breakthrough.

 

He hadn’t been expecting Wonwoo to slowly make his way over to the couch and sit down on the floor by Jeonghan’s feet, leaning his head against Jeonghan’s thigh in comfort. Or Junhui to be glaring a hole in the carpet, lost in his own thought.

 

And he certainly hadn’t been expecting Jihoon to be staring at Seungcheol so fiercely, with something like fire in his eyes.

 

Sometimes, Chan muses, you really can’t expect the unexpected.

 

 

 

“You’re an asshole for listening to Seungcheol and not me.”

 

“Well I like Seungcheol more than I like you.”

 

“That’s not even a little bit true, you butthead.”

 

“Yeah. Sorry Cheol.”

 

“It’s okay. I knew it was a losing game from the start.”

 

Not a trace of defeat, just acceptance.  Chan thinks that statement might have more than one meaning and he tucks that thought in the back of his brain for future inspection.

 

“Sorry for that Chan,” Jeonghan apologizes with a sniffle.

 

It’s been about an hour since the fight and subsequent emotional breakthrough. Everyone has pretty much calmed down since then, and no one is yelling at anyone anymore. They’re all sitting on the couch or right next to it in varying degrees of wakefulness. Chan has suspicions that Junhui is already asleep seeing as how he’s using Chan’s leg for a pillow and his breathing is steady and slow. Wonwoo looks drowsy, too, from where he’s now curled up next to Jeonghan on the couch, looking like a grumpy little pet cat. It’s cute, even though Wonwoo would probably disagree.

 

“It’s kind of sucky, isn’t it?” Jeonghan asks, wrinkling his nose a little.

 

Chan can’t help but grin because that’s almost exactly what Seokmin said earlier. “A little bit. It’s okay, though.”

 

“Things have been getting dramatic ever since Chan joined us, haven’t they?” Jisoo muses, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chan can’t help but ask, bewildered by the sly smile shared between Jeonghan and Jisoo. Wonwoo, Chan notices, is frowning.

 

“Nothing, sweet Chan,” Jisoo says mysteriously. “You’re so cute.”

 

Chan blushes and then immediately hates himself for it. “Careful, Shua, you’re gonna have to fight—”

 

Jihoon’s violent coughing cuts off the end of Jeonghan’s sentence, causing Seungcheol to reach over and pat his back a little bit, which only makes Jihoon splutter and cough louder. Junhui is startled from his sleep by Jihoon’s hacking, and starts whining. He smacks at Chan’s leg and begs him to make them shut up.

 

“Junhui-hyung would like to request everyone to shut up,” Chan says. It makes Jeonghan smile and Jisoo look at his watch.

 

“It’s getting kinda late. Do you guys just want to stay here? Or I can call a cab?” Jisoo asks.

 

It _is_ late, definitely past the time for the last bus. Chan shrugs.

 

A few minutes later, they have the sleeping arrangements sorted out. Jeonghan and Jisoo are sharing Jisoo’s room, and Seungcheol offers to bunk with Wonwoo. The couch pulls out into a bed, which Junhui and Jihoon (warily) agree to share and Chan gets an old sleeping bag, a pile of blankets, and the living room floor. It’s actually pretty comfortable and Chan doesn’t mind at all, even though Jisoo keeps checking on him and offering to make Jeonghan sleep on the floor instead. It’s comfortable and warm but Chan still can’t fall asleep.

 

Junhui is snoring and Jihoon keeps shifting on the couch, which makes these creepy creaking noises every time either one of them moves an inch, so Chan could blame the noise if he wanted to. But mostly it’s his brain. It just won’t shut off. It keeps running scenarios in his head, taking data, churning out possible results about what could possibly happen between Jeonghan and Seokmin.

 

Within the past few hours, he had become so charged up with energy to get to the bottom of this and then he suddenly lost all of his steam. He saw two of his friends almost cry, a lot more of his friends being angry and petty and tired. Chan needs to fix this; not only for his own sanity, but for everyone he now finds himself caring out. It’s also kind of his job to fix this, but Chan finds himself _wanting_ to fix it as well. He wants his friends to be happy and together again. He wants them to smile and laugh and talk without thinking about whose side they’re on. He wants things to be like they were before. They have to be.

 

It’s nearing five in the morning when Chan registers he hears a sound that isn’t Junhui’s snoring or couch squeaking. They’re a single pair of footsteps shuffling as quietly as possible, coming from one of the bedrooms and heading toward what Chan thinks is the kitchen. He sits up slowly and peeks around the back of the couch to see Jeonghan in oversized pajamas, bathing in the soft yellow glow of the refrigerator.

 

He watches as Jeonghan scoops up a gallon of what looks like Neapolitan ice cream and then sits down on the floor, back to the kitchen cabinets. He reaches blindly into a nearby drawer for a spoon, and then tucks in.

 

The sad sight stirs something in Chan and he finds himself drawn to Jeonghan’s huddled figure, even though he himself is tired and kind of wants to sleep. Plus Chan doesn’t recall a time when he’s ever spoken to Jeonghan one on one before. But Jeonghan doesn’t say anything, doesn’t show any signs that he notices Chan slowly approaching him. He only makes another blind reach into the drawer for a second spoon and offers it to Chan once he’s within reach.

 

Cautiously, Chan takes it. He sits facing Jeonghan as they take turns scooping up ice cream. After a few minutes, Jeonghan finally speaks up.

 

“What a night, huh?”

 

Chan shrugs. “You can say that again.”

 

Jeonghan gives him a questioning look, so Chan decides to give the poor guy a little bit of a break.

 

“I was at Seungkwan’s earlier.”

 

Jeonghan nods, taking another scoop of ice cream. He passes the carton back to Chan, then sighs.

 

“How is he?” Jeonghan asks, voice soft.

 

Chan knows who he’s talking about without clarification because Jeonghan’s entire demeanor changes. He tenses in anticipation of Chan’s words and when he doesn’t say anything, Jeonghan continues.

 

“How’s he doing, I mean. I’m assuming you know, seeing as you’re one of the only ones to get past Seungkwan’s defenses.”

 

“He’s…” Chan starts, but stops. He’s wondering if he should lie or not, how much information to pass on without feeling like he’s betraying his friends. But lying probably wouldn’t solve anything and he _is_ a Cupid, after all. “He says he’s okay but I don’t think he is.”

 

Jeonghan looks down at the ice cream. “I figured he’d try to put a brave face on.”

 

“Is that really why you broke up with him?” Chan asks, feeling brave himself. “Because you were scared?”

 

Jeonghan sighs. “At the time, I had a lot of reasons. I’m leaving school soon, his family is super supportive while mine is super not, I wanted to get a pet snake even though I know he’s afraid of them—”

 

“Really?”

 

“No. But just the thought that I _wouldn’t_ get a pet snake because I know Seokmin doesn’t like them was like this huge wake up call. I’ve never put someone else first because I learned a long time ago that that’s just how you end up getting hurt. So yeah, it was mostly because I was scared. I thought dating Seokmin would be just another fun fling but I found myself actually getting attached and caring all that kind of stuff that I usually hate in relationships. I panicked and instead of being an adult and talking about my feelings, I broke it off. Without any explanation either. I’m sure he hates me right now and I really want to talk to him, like I think I owe it to him to have a face-to-face discussion but I don’t know if he would want to see me.”

 

Chan is silent while Jeonghan takes another few scoops of ice cream.

 

“I don’t know if I’m just emotionally exhausted or still drunk or if it’s just ridiculously easy to talk to you, but I don’t know why I’m spilling my guts to you in the middle of the night, Chan.”

 

Chan can’t help but grin. “I think it might be the ice cream, hyung.”

 

Jeonghan grins back, the first genuine display of a positive emotion Chan has seen him make in a long time. “I think you might be right.”

 

“Thanks for listening to me, Channie,” he continues. He puts the lid back on the container of ice cream and reaches without standing up to throw his and Chan’s spoons into the sink with a gentle _clang!_ Somebody on the couch bed stirs, but doesn’t get up at the noise.

 

“Any time, hyung,” Chan says earnestly. “And if you want help to try to talk to Seokmin-hyung, just let me know. I can tell you when or if he’s ready and try to make sure Seungkwan’s busy—”

 

Jeonghan sighs and reaches over to ruffle Chan’s hair. “You’re too cute! I'll think about it, okay? If my heart wasn’t already taken, you might have some more competition for yours.”

 

Before Chan can even think to ask what the hell Jeonghan is talking about the older boy is standing and shuffling away from him, leaving Chan alone to ponder the possibilities.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh I started writing this angst and now I can’t deal with it anymore so it probably won’t last that long :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the wait (I kind of agonized over this and re-wrote a million times) hope this makes up for it :)  
> Warnings for minor injuries—nothing serious though!  
> ALSO happy Jihoon day!

 

Chan is getting stressed. He can feel it in his bones after dance classes, in his brain when he can’t fall asleep at night. And he’s one hundred percent sure it’s because of his assignments.

 

His top priority is Jihoon, who’s been showing more and more signs of Love Sickness. He locks himself in his studio for hours, working feverishly on songs (lots of them angsty love songs from what Chan manages to take a peek at) while avoiding communication attempts from just about all of his friends. Chan knows it’s more than Jihoon’s usual workaholic attitude because Soonyoung asks around after practice to see if anyone’s seen Jihoon in sunlight in the past 72 hours.

 

So Chan takes to stopping in at Jihoon’s studio several times a week. He does it under the guise of checking up on _Lilili Yabbay_ , which they recently finished recording, and brings food and drinks with him to appease Jihoon with his presence. Jihoon, surprisingly, doesn’t protest Chan hanging out in his studio as long as he doesn’t ask too many questions or make any noise. And after several days of dropping in unannounced with snacks or coffee, Jihoon stops asking why Chan is invading his space and just accepts when Chan crashes on the recently salvaged ratty couch at the back of his studio for hours on end. It’s boring and Chan usually just plays games on his phone until he bullies Jihoon into going home or going out with him to eat something more substantial than ramen and cereal bars, but it also gives him a lot of time to think.

 

He’s been texting Jeonghan (his second priority) a lot recently, mostly about Seokmin, and is trying to set up time for them to talk. But of course, Seungkwan is proving to be a problem. Despite Seokmin asking all of them to act like normal and not make a big deal of the break-up, Seungkwan is still overprotective of Seokmin. He barely lets Seokmin out of his sight when they are on campus for rehearsal and have the potential to casually run into Jeonghan, and Chan can’t seem to find a way for them to meet without Seungkwan in the picture.

 

Chan texts Seokmin, too, but Seokmin never seems to want to talk to Chan about topics deeper than what he had for lunch. It’s extremely frustrating and a part of Chan knows that he has to wait until Seokmin is ready to really help with anything, but the waiting is getting to him.

 

When he’s not texting Jeonghan or Seokmin, Chan takes to worrying about his other assignments. Despite recent revelations (about how Seungcheol acted the other night and seemed so supportive of Jeonghan going after Seokmin again), it’s too early to tell if Seungcheol is completely over Jeonghan so Chan still can’t do anything to further his relationship with Jihoon. And Hansol keeps him busy almost every day with new ways to agonize over everything about Seungkwan, from the emoticons he uses to which kind of bubble tea is his favorite.

 

So really, it’s mostly business as usual, just on Jihoon’s couch instead of in his own dorm.

 

Except sometimes Soonyoung joins him in Jihoon’s studio. Soonyoung is surprised the first time he sees Chan there, a pout on his lips when he sees that Jihoon is already eating some ramen courtesy of Chan, and his own bag of goodies falls to hang sadly by his side. But after a sheepish grin from Chan, the pout melts off of the senior’s face and he bounds over to the couch to share the snacks with Chan instead.

 

The three of them usually congregate in Jihoon’s studio two or three times a week, but Jihoon gets grumpy when both of them are there, and usually kicks one or the both of them out after an hour or so.

 

“I can take one of you in here, but when you two are together I can literally hear your brains going into overdrive,” Jihoon grumbles one day, his shoulders scrunched up almost to his ears in frustration.

 

Chan and Soonyoung, who had been innocently sipping at coffees and scrolling through Jihoon’s SNS looking for embarrassing pictures, look up at Jihoon with twin looks of confusion.

 

Jihoon doesn’t offer any explanation, though, and fixes them with a glare that has both dancers scrambling for the door anyways.

 

“How can he even hear my brain?” Soonyoung murmurs, looking perplexed at the outside of the studio door.

 

“It’s nice that you hang out with Jihoonie,” Soonyoung continues a while later. They end up sitting on the floor in the hallway with a pact to wrestle Jihoon out of his studio in half an hour. Soonyoung thinks he’s been in there since the early morning, but it might have been longer because neither can say for sure that Jihoon went home last night.

 

Chan shrugs. “It’s kind of boring, but also calming. It beats hanging around in my dorm by myself.”

 

“I think he secretly likes having you in there,” Soonyoung tells him, a small grin dancing on his lips.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. When I try to go in there, he usually kicks me out unless he wants to talk about something.”

 

Chan hums, trying to picture Soonyoung sitting quietly on the couch like he does, but can’t imagine it. He actually doesn’t think he’s seen Soonyoung sit still for more than twenty minutes at a time. No wonder Jihoon doesn’t like him in his studio.

 

“So it’s kind of weird that he lets you in there. Well, not weird, but…it’s nice,” Soonyoung continues, bumping his shoulder with Chan’s. “Not many people get that privilege.”

 

Chan ponders that for a minute, something warm stirring in his gut. He’s known Jihoon long enough to know that he doesn’t let a lot of people in, doesn’t let a lot of people get past the walls he puts up. Chan knows he and the producer aren’t all that similar and tend to argue a lot when they talk, but he’s always felt some sort of weird kinship with Jihoon, and also some weird need to impress him. So to be one of the special people that Jihoon takes his headphones off to greet may not seem that special to everyone, but it’s very special to Chan.

 

“I’ll try not to piss him off, then,” Chan says with a grin. “I don’t want to lose my favorite hangout spot.”

 

“But,” Soonyoung pipes up, hooking his arms around his knees and drawing them up to his chest. “You can always come hang out with me if you’re bored, Channie. I’m usually at the dance studio, though.”

 

Chan wrinkles his nose. “But it smells in there, hyung.”

 

Soonyoung playfully elbows him, but his face radiates disappointment. Chan is about to ask what’s wrong when the timer on his phone to get Jihoon out of the studio goes off.

 

“Time to take on the beast.”

 

 

With all of his Romantic Duties causing Chan one big headache, he decides to give himself just one day to be a human rather than a Cupid. After a few weeks of the same routine, after dance and work and sitting on Jihoon’s couch while simultaneously trying to text Hansol to calm the fuck down and Jeonghan to get his shit together, Chan is getting tired. He decides he needs a break before he gets too stressed overworks himself again.

 

Other than an evening dance practice, Chan doesn’t have anything planned for the upcoming Wednesday. So he sleeps in, stays in his pajamas until the last possible second binge-watching whatever looks awful on Netflix and not giving a thought to any of his friends or family or assignments.

 

Maybe staying in bed all day isn’t the best for his dancer condition, but his mind feels at ease as he makes his way across campus to the studio. He has his favorite playlist blaring through his headphones and he’s wearing his favorite, comfiest pair of sweats. He’s ready to lose himself in dance for a few hours before going back home, stuffing his face with fried food, and falling asleep again listening to this dumb sleep podcast Hansol recommended him.

 

So when Chan gets to the studio and the doors are locked, he starts to get nervous. He double checks his phone and he definitely knows they were supposed to meet up today at this time, and Soonyoung is always early because he likes to “de-stress” by flopping around to girl group songs before getting serious for practice. Something is wrong; he feels it in his gut. Hastily, Chan pulls up Minghao’s contact info in his phone and calls him, immediately asking why no one is at the studio.

 

_“Practice is cancelled. Soonyoung-hyung sprained his ankle.”_

 

The words rattle around in Chan’s skull for a good ten seconds before he actually comprehends them. _What?_

 

“What?”

 

_“Soonyoung, he sprained his ankle?”_  


 

“When?”

 

_“Uh, last night? He got hurt pretty bad, I’m surprised he didn’t tell you especially seeing as he texted me and Junhui-hyung about it this morning. That piece of shit forgot about our precious maknae.”_

 

“But we talked yesterday, though,” Chan says, wracking his brain about the texts he received from Soonyoung last night. He definitely remembers Soonyoung texting him to remind him about practice but nothing else, definitely nothing about getting hurt. “He didn’t say anything.”

 

_“Oh, that’s odd.”_

 

“It’s stupid.”

 

_“Maybe he thought we would tell you about it. Sorry, Channie, I didn’t realize.”_

Chan curses. This is not what he needs, what the team needs right before competition in a little over a month.

 

_“Anyways, can’t really practice without one-fourth of the team, but I wouldn’t be too worried—”_

 

“Where is he?”

 

_“Soonyoung-hyung? I guess he’s at his dorm? I didn’t hear anything else—”_

“Okay, bye!”

 

_“Wait, Chan—”_

 

Chan hangs up, knowing he’ll probably get some angry texts about it from Minghao later, but that’s the least of his worries right now.

 

The crazy thing is, Chan doesn’t even remember making a conscious decision to go to Soonyoung’s dorm, he just kind of shows up there a couple minutes later. He’s visited Soonyoung’s dorm a handful of times over the months, mostly for help with his dance department application, so his brain just takes him there on autopilot until he’s standing in front of the senior’s door.

 

He knocks before he can think about it, and after nobody comes to the door he pulls out his phone to send Soonyoung a text. If it’s bad enough that Soonyoung can’t even stand to open the door—

 

He jumps when Wonwoo appears from behind the door, looking surprised to see Chan there, but he doesn’t get much of a chance to ask what the freshman is doing at his dorm because Chan is already barreling past him. He storms into the dorm, confused scowl on his face and comes to a stop right in front of Soonyoung.

 

Soonyoung is lying on his bed, left foot wrapped in bandages and sitting atop three pillows for elevation and a laptop in his lap. He startles when he sees Chan and then winces in pain when he jostles his ankle. Chan only feels a little bit bad about it.

 

He puts his dance bag down on the floor, which he didn’t realize he had carried all the way with him from the studio, and throws himself into the chair sitting at Soonyoung’s desk. He’s buzzing with energy and Soonyoung must sense it because he looks at Chan with wide eyes, a million questions swirling in them.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

It’s the first question that jumps to Chan’s brain, and he kind of barks it out at Soonyoung.

 

Wonwoo looks blankly between the two dancers.

 

“Uh, I’m gonna go get some dinner. I’ll pick something up for you too, Soonyoung,” Wonwoo says quietly before slipping out the door.

 

Chan’s eyes follow Wonwoo and then snap back to Soonyoung, who looks kind of like a deer caught in the headlights. All big eyes and flushed cheeks. Cute—wait, no. Dumb. Yeah, dumb.

 

“I didn’t want to worry you—”

 

“I got all the way to the studio and had to find out from Minghao that practice was cancelled and you were hurt.”

 

“Sorry, Chan, I just…I didn’t want you to worry about me,” Soonyoung mumbles, looking equal parts apologetic and confused. “There’s enough shit happening and I didn’t want you to worry about one extra little thing. Plus I’m sure I told Hao to text you about practice being cancelled.”

 

“You’re team captain, you should have told me yourself,” Chan huffs. “But whether you like it or not, your injuries affect all of us. Plus I thought—nevermind.”

 

Chan really doesn’t know how he was going to end that sentence. He thought Soonyoung thought he was worth telling this stuff to? He thought Soonyoung would _want_ to tell Chan that he was hurt? He thought maybe Soonyoung would want Chan to be there for him, just like Soonyoung was there for Chan when he was having a hard time? There’s a lot of other ends to the sentence swirling and swirling, going too fast in his mind that Chan can’t make sense of them.

 

“How did this even happen?”

 

Soonyoung at least attempts to look sheepish as he explains. “I was practicing late and I thought of a cool move. It’s a turn into this jump kind of thing—it looks cooler if you see it—but I was doing the jump thing and I landed wrong on my ankle and well…”

 

“You shouldn’t do that,” Chan can’t help but pout.

 

“Practice?” Soonyoung asks incredulously, eyebrows disappearing under his bangs and his eyes growing impossibly wider. It’s like Chan had suggested Soonyoung chop off his foot or something.

 

“Yeah. Late at night without anyone to spot you or anything. What if you broke it or you passed out and you were stuck in the studio all night?” Chan registers vaguely that he sounds like an annoying hyung, like all of his hyungs back when he used to get annoyed at them for nagging him like that. Guess he picked up a few things from them, after all.

 

Soonyoung sighs. “You’re right. I’m sorry Chan.”

 

“Next time, just ask me to come practice with you. Even if I have homework or something, I can sit in the studio with you. It’s better than you being alone and doing something stupid again.”

 

Soonyoung purses his lips. “I asked you to hang out with me there before, but you said it was smelly.”

 

“Well, I-I take it back,” he says, crossing his arms petulantly. He does vaguely remember saying that. Past Chan is dumb sometimes.

 

Soonyoung shifts on the bed, sitting up a little straighter and he winces again with the movement. It sucks because Chan knows just how much Soonyoung likes to move. Even when he's sitting down, he's always wiggling, shaking his leg, kicking his feet. It must be agony for him to be still like this. Chan bites his lower lip and wishes there was something he could do to help. 

 

“How long?” he asks with a vague gesture to Soonyoung's wrapped ankle.

 

“The doctor said two weeks.”

 

Chan nods. “We won’t be able to practice for two weeks.”

 

“I never said that,” Soonyoung says, slightly evil glint in his eye.

 

Chan knows that Soonyoung probably has some grand scheme about running rehearsals with his foot propped up in the studio, shouting orders at him and the other dancers while he cackles gleefully from the sidelines. Chan also knows that something similar to that will probably happen, though if Soonyoung so much as tries to stress his ankle that Chan won’t be the only one there to tackle him back into his seat.

 

He must be pouting while he thinks, because Soonyoung coos at him. He looks up at Soonyoung and the fond expression on his face makes Chan’s cheeks burn with embarrassment.

 

“Want to watch something?” the senior asks after a minute.

 

“Well my other plans were _cancelled_ ,” Chan says, trying to fight the grin off his face, “So I guess I have some free time.”

 

Soonyoung smiles pats the space next him on his bed. Chan settles in next to Soonyoung, reaching for his laptop so he can pick something to watch, and it is only then that Chan realizes how close they’re sitting. Soonyoung has a standard issue single and though neither Chan nor Soonyoung are all that broad, it’s still a tight squeeze. The entire left side of Chan’s body is lined up with Soonyoung’s right and normally being that close to another person wouldn’t cause Chan’s brain to seize up. But today’s kind of been a weird day (at least the last half hour or so of it), so maybe that’s why all Chan can focus on is how warm Soonyoung is.

 

So Chan sits next to Soonyoung, trying not to move so he doesn’t jostle his ankle, and tries to pay attention to the dance videos Soonyoung is showing him. It’s excruciating and Chan didn’t know he could feel so…so weird while spending time with Soonyoung. They do this all the time, sit next to each other and joke around and watch dance videos. It’s very normal for them, so why does Chan feel like he simultaneously wants to throw up and gouge his eyes out because how is he just now realizing that Soonyoung is…Soonyoung is kind of pretty?

 

He must be sick, probably getting a fever or something. Even his face feels hot. Yeah, that’s it. He has a fever and he’s hallucinating that Soonyoung is attractive and warm and his laugh is really cute. Yep, Chan is delusional. That’s the only explanation for any of it, at least that he can think of right now.

 

After about thirty agonizing minutes (Chan didn’t know he could be so _aware_ of someone, seriously it’s torture), Wonwoo returns with both arms full of Chinese takeout.

 

“I got enough for you, too, Chan. If you want to stay,” Wonwoo says after depositing the bags on the small table in the kitchenette.

 

Chan’s growling stomach is enough answer for everyone, so Chan nods sheepishly and accepts his fate. He gently scoots off the bed and turns around to help Soonyoung maneuver his ankle gently so that he can stand. Chan has to hold Soonyoung’s hands to do it, and then he wraps an arm around Soonyoung’s waist so he can support his weight on Chan if he needs while he hobbles to the table. The air conditioner in the small dorm must have stopped working because the short walk from the bed to the table has both Chan and Soonyoung red in the face.

 

Thankfully, since Chan’s brain broke a while ago, Wonwoo takes over the conversation while they eat, talking about his job and the summer projects he’s working on. He asks Chan about his dance classes with Junhui, and only makes a couple of jokes about how much of a dumbass Soonyoung is.

 

“I can’t believe he thought he could hide it from you for two weeks,” Wonwoo says, pointing Soonyoung’s ankle propped up on another chair.

 

“I wasn’t _hiding_ it, I just kind of forgot,” Soonyoung pouts (Chan does _not_ stare). “And if you guys didn’t have to worry about it, then it would be one less thing to worry about this close to competition.”

 

“That’s stupid, even for you Soonyoung.”

 

Chan leaves after they finish eating, his brain still kind of fuzzy. He blames it on sitting in bed all day and not the way Soonyoung attempts a wobbly, one-armed hug, but ends up headbutting Chan instead when he goes to leave. Wonwoo’s right. Soonyoung can be so stupid sometimes. Stupid and caring and pretty—Chan nearly runs out of the apartment before his feverish delusions make him say something he’ll regret later.

 

 

It doesn’t occur to Chan until later that night just how royally screwed he is. He’d been lying in bed, staring at the ceiling willing his brain to shut off so that he can finally sleep. After an eternity, he sits up in frustration, rethinking and rethinking and rethinking about earlier that eventually it all kind of clicks and Chan finds himself panicking at his conclusion.

 

He freaked out because Soonyoung got hurt. He couldn’t care less about the competition. No, he cares about Soonyoung. Soonyoung who is so supportive and energetic and smiles at Chan when he does well and never gets frustrated with him during practice. Soonyoung who can stuff so much food in his cheeks that he looks like a hamster and makes fun of all of his friends but also shows up at their door whenever they need him with food and hugs and just the right thing to say to make them feel better. Soonyoung who Chan just realized is kind of pretty and maybe cute and can so suddenly break Chan’s brain.

 

Chan freaked out ( _is_ freaking out) because Soonyoung got hurt and Chan doesn’t want someone like Soonyoung, someone he _likes_ , to be hurt and in pain. Especially when Chan could have been there to prevent it, had he not been so caught up in his Cupid work.

 

He likes Soonyoung.

 

Like, actually likes Soonyoung.

 

Fuck.

 

When did that happen?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHHHH!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for screaming with/at me in the comments! I apologize for lack of updates but things have been crazy lately and I have had zero free time…please enjoy some verkwan!

 

Even though he’s a Cupid, Chan never saw himself doing something like this. Sure, he knows some Cupids attend their assignments’ dates, usually watching from afar or trailing the couple invisibly to ensure outside forces don’t interfere too much with the date itself. Chan knows he’d have to do something like this eventually, but what makes this experience ten thousand times more awkward is that he’s trailing the first date between a childhood friend and his roommate.

 

Somehow, Seungkwan has convinced Hansol to go on a date with him. An actual date, not just a hang-out or a group date or anything else that might be misleading. Hansol, to his credit, hasn’t stressed himself out too much, but he does call Chan a few times that morning to double check with Chan about when and where the date was, if it actually was still a date.

 

“Hyung, Seungkwan told me himself that he was taking you on a date—”

 

_“But what if it wasn’t like a_ date _date, but just like a date as in a time?”_

 

“Oh my god, hyung, if you talk yourself out of this date I will strangle you”.

 

Chan has heard enough about the date from Seungkwan, so he knows all the details to be a solid reference for Hansol.

 

“I can confirm that you’re going on a date with Seungkwan-hyung at Lotte World. You’re meeting him at the front gate at 11 and you’re going to have a great time and probably have a boyfriend after this—”

 

_“Shhh, Chan, don’t jinx it!”_

 

Chan wishes there was a way he could transport himself through the phone just so he could hit Hansol on the back of the head. As it is, he’ll have to settle for glaring at him from behind the bush in front of the entrance to Lotte World that he’s been staking out in for the past ten minutes.

 

He can see Hansol pacing a couple feet in front of him, far enough away so that he can’t hear the echo of Chan’s voice from his phone. He tells Hansol to calm down and is satisfied to see the sophomore’s shoulders drop about an inch from where they’ve been practically pinned to his ears with anxiety.

 

“You’ll do great, hyung. Just relax and be yourself. You got this.”

 

Hansol starts jumping up and down, nodding his head while he hypes himself up. Chan tries not to grin because his roommate is so dumb and not at all because the sight is incredibly endearing.

 

_“Yeah, yeah I got this. I got this.”_

 

“You got this, hyung. Now leave me alone and enjoy your date.”

 

Chan hangs up and doesn’t feel bad about it at all because he can now see Seungkwan making his way toward Hansol, a large smile on his face. Show time.

 

Chan makes himself invisible and slowly makes his way toward the couple, only dodging a few of lost-looking tourists on his way. As he gets closer, he can still see that Hansol clearly looks nervous. But after a smile or two from Seungkwan, Hansol seems to be loosening up a little bit. They greet each other quietly, both trying not to obviously check the other out; Seungkwan is wearing ripped jeans that show of the tan skin of his legs, a black t-shirt advertising a band that Chan has never heard of with a light red and black checkered flannel over it, and Hansol is wearing his tightest pair of jeans and a sleeveless t-shirt that shows off the lean muscles of his arms. It’s obvious they both took care when picking out their outfits and styling their hair (though Chan had to convince Hansol to leave his beanies at home), trying to appear as casual yet put together as possible, and they complement each other well.

 

Chan follows a couple of paces behind as the two make their way through the front gates at a leisurely pace, content to talk and just be in each other’s presence. He can’t make out much of what they’re saying, but it seems to be all good things. Seungkwan gets Hansol to smile a few times and even laugh at one of his jokes. Hansol keeps close to Seungkwan, only bumping into somebody once when he was too busy staring at his date instead of looking where he was going.

 

Things are going good, all things considered. Hansol and Seungkwan look happy, a little bit lost in each other, but then again that’s not anything different from the usual. The only difference is that now, they don’t try to hide it. But Chan doesn’t see any reason to get involved yet, so he keeps his distance tailing them while they walk through the park.

 

After a few minutes, they come to a ride that Hansol wants to try. It’s a big ride that looks like a Viking ship, and Hansol looks up at it in wonder while Seungkwan starts looking a little green. Chan bypasses a screaming toddler to get back within earshot of his friends.

 

Hansol pokes Seungkwan’s side with a grin. “Why’d you take me to an amusement park if you didn’t want to get on any rides?” he teases.

 

“Is that a challenge?” Seungkwan asks, eyes sparkling with competition.

 

Hansol nods. “What? You can’t handle it, Boo?”

 

“Watch me, Chwe,” Seungkwan says, taking a confident step forward to put himself decisively in line. Hansol grins and steps up beside him.

 

Chan is stuck watching from the ground, bored, noting how Hansol doesn’t miss the opportunity to put his arm around Seungkwan when they both start screaming their heads off on the ride. Chan takes the moment to wonder what it would be like if he was here on an actual date like Hansol and Seungkwan. He wonders what he would do if he was here to enjoy the amusements Lotte World offers with a cute boy or girl, teasing them into going onto all of his favorite rides or looking sickeningly sweet into their eyes as they feed Chan pieces of cotton candy. If he was here on a date, instead of just there for official Cupid duties, a picture starts forming in his mind…and immediately regrets the idea because an image of him and Soonyoung doing those stupid couple-y things pops up into his head.

 

And just like that, even though Chan has kept his feet firmly on the ground during this stupid date, he kind of wants to barf as if he was the one dizzying himself on roller coasters. This whole ‘Chan likes Soonyoung’ thing isn’t going that well. Well it is. Kind of.

 

The way Chan sees it, the easiest way to deal with his “crush” is to avoid Soonyoung entirely. Which is actually kind of hard when for the past few weeks, Soonyoung has practically become a part of Chan’s daily routine. Chan can’t go to Jihoon’s studio anymore out of fear of running into Soonyoung there, so he asks Yerim to help him out by leaving snacks outside of Jihoon’s studio door whenever she can. He still has to see Soonyoung at practice, which is fine (it’s not). He gets to practice exactly on time and leaves as soon as it’s over.

 

Thankfully, Soonyoung’s sprained ankle keeps him from hobbling after Chan when he makes his hasty exits. And he doesn’t feel bad about leaving Soonyoung to fend the stairs up to the studio by himself on his crutches because Wonwoo has taken to showing up at practices to do just that and then drive Soonyoung wherever he needs to go. Chan also starts declining offers to get food with the team after practice just so that he doesn’t have to spend any more time than necessary staring at Soonyoung, hearing his voice, just being in the same room with him.

 

All of this is just a precaution, so that he doesn’t make a complete idiot out of himself, or get too close to make his brain freeze up like it did that one time when Soonyoung first got hurt. Thinking about Soonyoung too much makes his brain turn to mush and he hates it.

 

Because it’s really hard for Chan to accept that he likes Soonyoung. He’s not even sure if he _likes_ Soonyoung. Maybe it’s more just of an ‘I think you’re attractive and a good dancer’ thing than an ‘I like you and want to hold your hand in a romantic way’ thing. Maybe it’s a one-time attraction brought on by too much stress and worry over Soonyoung’s wellbeing than something he, as a fully trained Cupid (he took several classes on the progression of attraction and love, he knows what he's talking about), can claim to be anything close to a “crush”.

 

Chan has had crushes on people, sure, but he’s never had one on somebody he’s friends with. He always had more of the on-looker (but not in a creepy way) crushes. Crushing on somebody you see and admire from afar is cool and mysterious; you can fill in the bits you don’t know about the other person with your own fantasies and get over the crush fairly quickly when they stop showing up at Starbucks at the same time that you do every week. But crushing on somebody you see in everyday life is excruciating. Chan is forced to spend hours with Soonyoung, trying not to think about him, knowing all too well every one of Soonyoung’s frustratingly cute quirks. Seriously, nobody should be allowed to have giggles that adorable. The way his eyes scrunch up and he smiles in a way that highlights his definitely squish-able cheeks. Ugh.

 

The whole thing is also kind of embarrassing. It’s not like anything will come of it; Chan is a freshman who barely has his shit together and Soonyoung is graduating in the spring. It just doesn’t add up and he kind of feels like a little kid crushing on his older sibling’s best friend or something. Plus, Chan’s life is kind of a mess and he doesn’t need any more romance in it. It’s better to stay away and avoid Soonyoung, let things settle, focus on dance and school and his assignments. He doesn’t even know why he’s entertaining the idea of him and Soonyoung on an imaginary, super hypothetical, date-like hangout anyways.

 

Chan is fortunately brought back to reality when he sees Seungkwan and Hansol make their way off of the ride, both with bright red faces and laughing hard. He grins at them for a moment, glad to see them so happy just enjoying their time together. It’s a nice change of pace from the torment of Chan’s other assignments. No progress has been made with any of the others; it feels like he’s just hit a brick wall with everything else.

 

Not Hansol and Seungkwan, though, who are still giggly and leaning into each other while they look for another ride. Chan follows while they go from ride to ride for a while, watches while Seungkwan screams and Hansol holds him tight. Whenever they get off the rides, however, Hansol resumes a polite distance with Seungkwan. Huh. Chan can probably do something about that. That’s why he’s tagging along on their date anyway.

 

An opportunity presents itself when they stop in the food court for snacks. There’s a huge crowd, and Chan is having a hard time maneuvering around people without bumping into a few. It’s mostly fine because it’s so packed that most people ignore bumping into something unseen, but there’s a few who look around wildly, searching for the invisible person that just stepped on their foot. Chan apologizes to them internally, trying to keep his eyes on his targets who seem to be always just a little bit ahead of him.

 

Chan watches as Hansol and Seungkwan collect their food, each holding giant red slushies. Perfect.

 

Chan makes his way closer to the couple, waiting for the right moment. Hansol takes the lead weaving through people to find a spot for them to sit. He points at a table at the edge of the food court to show Seungkwan when Chan takes action. Chan surges forward, pushing Seungkwan from behind just hard enough to overbalance him.

 

Seungkwan yelps and looks on in horror as the giant red slushie tumbles out of his hand and lands on the ground with a giant splat. Most of it ends up on the ground but a large amount of it falls directly onto Hansol who had been standing right in front of Seungkwan, painting the back of his light wash jeans a bright cherry red. Chan smiles and dodges out of the way as Seungkwan starts looking for the person who bumped into him and, when he can’t find him, begins apologizing to Hansol profusely.

 

Hansol looks confused for a second before he looks down at the mess on the floor and his ruined pants, and then grins looking only a little embarrassed. Seungkwan, however, looks like he wants to throw himself off of a bridge. He’s practically wringing his hands with guilt even when Hansol tries to reassure him.

 

“Kwannie, hey, it’s okay. I like tie-dye anyways,” Hansol says with a slight shiver. Apparently the slushie was making its way through the layers of Hansol’s clothes. Whoops. Chan will make it up to him later.

 

“Don’t try to joke, those jeans look expensive and I just ruined them,” Seungkwan pouts.

 

“You didn’t ruin them, just watch out or you’ll get it on your shoes.”

 

Hansol grabs Seungkwan’s hand and carefully leads him around the red puddle on the floor and over to the table they had staked out earlier. They both set their food down before grabbing handfuls of napkins and going back to clean up their mess. A worker with a mop soon shoos them away, assuring them that it happens all the time. Seungkwan hesitantly leaves the scene, the tips of his ears a shade of red that rivals the remaining slushie.

 

When Hansol realizes they only have one slushie left, he jumps up and jogs over to the service station to grab another straw, choosing to share the remaining slushie instead of spending more money on another one (Chan gives Hansol a mental high-five for choosing the more romantic option). And apparently, Seungkwan doesn’t hesitate to take in the view of Hansol’s retreating backside.

 

“Hansolie, it looks like you got your period,” Seungkwan giggles at Hansol when he gets back. Hansol looks confused before Seungkwan motions to the unfortunate placement of the red stains on the back of his pants.

 

Seungkwan gets up and shrugs off the flannel shirt he had been wearing. “Here,” he says, motioning Hansol to step closer.

 

Hansol does, his eyes getting big and round when Seungkwan reaches around Hansol’s waist and wraps his shirt around Hansol’s hips. He ties it tightly and straightens the flannel before stepping back and admiring his work.

 

“Wow, thanks,” Hansol says, looking at Seungkwan like he personally hung up all of the stars in the universe.

 

“No problem. Now let’s eat, I’m hungry.”

 

The two sit down at their table, sill a little flustered from the slushie incident. Again, Chan finds himself trying not to imagine him sitting at that table with Soonyoung. Especially when Hansol reaches and wipes a crumb off of Seungkwan’s lip. Especially when they both lean forward to take a sip from their now-shared slushie, Seungkwan whipping his phone out so he can take a cute selfie of the two of them doing the stereotypically couple-y thing of sharing a drink with two straws.

 

Seungkwan and Hansol walk closer to each other after that, hands brushing every so often but neither of them summoning enough courage to attempt handholding. Chan follows Seungkwan and Hansol through several more rides and a short gift shop excursion. Seungkwan insists on buying himself and Hansol matching keychains. Hansol has a large dopey smile on his face when they take another selfie to celebrate their matching mementos.

 

“Thanks for today. I really had a lot of fun,” Hansol says a dozen rides later. They’re sitting on a bench on the edge of the park, Chan situated a safe distance away. He’s toying with the gift shop key chain in his hands with a dreamy expression on his face as he does it. Seungkwan looks at him with so much softness in his eyes.

 

“Yeah, me too,” Seungkwan tells him, beaming. “You know, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna come today.”

 

When Hansol’s expression falls, Seungkwan immediately rushes to his next thought. “No! No not because of you! You’re amazing. It’s…I don’t know, I guess I feel guilty? For going on a date when Seokmin-hyung is still so upset.”

 

Chan’s heart aches and he can see his feelings reciprocated in Hansol’s expression.

 

“You’re a really good friend, Kwannie. And I know you care a lot about Seokminnie-hyung but you can’t let yourself feel guilty for being happy. I mean, you were happy today. With me. Uh, right?”

 

The look Seungkwan gives him is so sappy sweet that Chan feels his own teeth rotting. “Yeah. Yes, you made me very happy today.”

 

“Good. Plus, he doesn’t really seem like the kind of guy to be upset at his friend going on a date when he just had a break-up, y’know?” Hansol continues, his cheeks going comically pink when he mentions the word ‘date’.

 

Seungkwan nods. “He’s just too nice for his own good. That jerk never deserved him anyways.”

 

Chan can see Hansol hesitate, like he disagrees, or doesn’t want Seungkwan to be so quick to judge, but he doesn’t say anything. They continue to talk for a while and watch the people go by, pointing out cool t-shirts they see or cute kids. Chan is stuck just listening, slowly getting bored out of his mind, but giving himself a mental pat on the back for surviving this far without giving up or giving himself away. Eventually, they get up and walk toward the exit. But it’s obvious neither wants to leave yet, walking at a leisurely pace and stopping often to point out something that they’ve already definitely seen before.

 

Just as they’re leaving the park, about to part ways, Seungkwan and Hansol stop and look at each other. They smile and Seungkwan bites his lip but neither say anything until a little kid almost runs into Hansol’s knees and the trance is broken. Seungkwan says they should get back home before it gets dark.

 

Seungkwan turns to leave but Chan is quicker. He holds out his hand and in an instant his crossbow pistol has materialized on his palm. Chan hastily whispers “ _Boo Seungkwan_ ” and aims carefully at Hansol, who’s staring pitifully at the back of Seungkwan’s head as he walks away.

 

The arrow hits Hansol perfectly in the middle of his chest.

 

Instantly, Hansol lurches forward a few steps and grabs Seungkwan’s wrist in a move so suave it could rival any male lead’s in a k-drama, if Chan were to judge. He spins Seungkwan around dramatically and tugs him so that he stumbles a few inches closer into Hansol’s chest. Chan delights in the blush that makes its way across Seungkwan’s cheeks.

 

The burst of spontaneous romanticism provided by Chan’s arrow seems to have run out though, when Hansol comes face to face with his crush. Chan can see the point when Hansol realizes what he’s done. He doesn’t do too poorly, though. He breathes out a “WeshoulddothisagainsometimeI’lltextyou,” and manages to lean forward and kiss Seungkwan’s cheek without imploding.

 

After the kiss, both Hansol and Seungkwan jump apart as though burned, but look at each other with so much affection that Chan feels himself getting queasy again, sick with all of the cuteness he was forced to witness in just one day. This time, when they turn to go, Chan can tell that each of them have a lot more confidence that there will be plenty of more dates and kisses in the future.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am IN LOVE with You Made My Dawn (especially Shhh, but what else is new?). Fun fact: I got the time wrong for the m/v release and I was going to get up early to watch it but ended up just staying up until 4 in the morning…and what better way to spend the time waiting for it than working on this mess?? 
> 
> Love you all for commenting and giving kudos! Hopefully I will get back to updating regularly :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating for a while~~I got really distracted working on some other stuff that may or may not show up here?? We’ll see???

 

The summer is slowly drawing to a close, which means a few different things. First of all, the classes Chan has been teaching with Junhui are ending and Chan thinks he’ll actually miss the kids he got to know so well over the last few weeks. Some of the senior members of the department will continue to teach classes throughout the school year, but with Chan’s new course load he definitely won’t be able to handle teaching classes as well.

 

Second, the dance competition that Per4mance has been working towards for months is looming closer as well, along with the issue of finding enough people to fill a house for a week so that the dance department’s money doesn’t go to waste. Things are still rocky with their friend group and Chan has serious doubts that Soonyoung’s dream of having them all spend an extra week together in Busan will come true. On a more positive note, Soonyoung has pretty much healed from his ankle injury and he will definitely be able to participate in the competition. And Chan is still pretty much ignoring him whenever possible. So there’s that.

 

But the last thing about the end of summer is Seungcheol’s birthday which falls at the beginning of August. Jisoo had thought it would be a good idea to throw Seungcheol a surprise birthday party and has invited everyone to attend. Everyone as in all of Seungcheol’s friends, which includes a bunch of people who still refuse to talk to each other. But Jisoo has a way with people (and with threats) and two days before the scheduled party, everyone has agreed to come with varying levels of enthusiasm.

 

“But I won’t be civil,” Seungkwan declares. “Especially if _he_ is there.”

 

Chan is talking to Seungkwan over the wooden fence that separates their backyards after a mid-week visit to his parents’ house. Chan had to fill his parents in about his progress with his latest assignments. They also loaded him up with enough food to feed a small army, for “our baby and his dance friends”. He could complain, but then he remembers how many meals he’s had recently that consisted of different forms of ramen and he shuts his mouth. His dad gives him a knowing grin. Chan kind of loves his parents.

 

They had listened quietly while he explained the progression of Jihoon’s Love Sickness and Seungcheol’s upcoming birthday party, but when Chan’s mom presses for more information about the aftermath of Seungkwan and Hansol’s date, he finds he doesn’t have anything to offer. As far as Chan knows, they’ve been talking everyday but haven’t been on any more dates. Hansol has been weirdly silent the past few days. He even missed an opportunity to see Seungkwan by making Chan give back the flannel shirt he borrowed on their date. Chan is quick to scold him for it but he does it anyway when he remembers the way Hansol had to spend an entire date with Seungkwan in cold, slushie-ruined pants. He owes him that much, at least.

 

Chan had thought that the date went well, but maybe he only thought it did because of his own relationship with the two involved. Maybe Chan had just wanted the date to turn out well, so his brain only filtered in the good bits and left out all of the awful and awkward things that had happened, too. What if Hansol changed his mind? Maybe Hansol changed his mind about Seungkwan because of how stubborn he is.

 

Like right now, how he’s proclaiming he’s only going to Seungcheol’s party because of the dirt Jisoo has on him (Chan wonders how and when Jisoo had the time to dig up dirt on Seungkwan in the first place) and _not_ because of the free booze and the fact that all of his friends and Hansol will be there.

 

Chan could roll his eyes at how ridiculous Seungkwan is being, but he doesn’t want to get punched. The cool thing is that Seokmin does it for him. Seokmin rolls his eyes and sighs exasperatedly at Seungkwan, nudging him with a mumbled “be nice”.

 

The junior had been visiting Seungkwan’s family with him and had been delighted to find out that Chan was home, too. Chan had been relaxing in his backyard peacefully, and then this unholy shrieking had filled his ears and now here he is, talking over the fence with his two loud hyungs.

 

Chan had been wondering if Seokmin knew that Jeonghan would be at the party, too, but it’s obvious that he knows now. Jeonghan is one of Seungcheol’s closest friends, anyways. It makes Chan hopeful that Seokmin is open to maybe repairing his relationship with Jeonghan; if not romantically, than at least as friends. If it’s the second option, it will most definitely make Chan’s job harder, but he doesn’t want to pressure Seokmin through suggestion or anything, even if his gut is telling him that they are meant to be.

 

“I like Seungcheol-hyung and I want to go to his party,” Seokmin tells them resolutely, hanging his upper body over the fence. “Plus I think it’s time to rip off the band aid,” he continues. “We’re all friends and we’re going to have to get used to being in the same room as each other when the semester starts.”

 

“Not all of us,” Seungkwan whispers quietly. Seokmin elbows him in a friendly manner, and Chan gives him a mental high-five.

 

Chan will admit that he likes Seungkwan well enough, would even call him a friend if he was forced to, but this whole avoiding Jeonghan routine has gone on way too long. And Seokmin is right; it’s going to be a lot harder to keep it up during the semester, when they’re all continuously on campus again. With Seungkwan making friends with Mingyu and Minghao, their friend group is getting even closer and impending interactions are inevitable.

 

Slowly, things seem to be a little less tense with the rest of their friends; Minghao stops freezing out Junhui after posting a selfies with Jeonghan on twitter and Mingyu talks about hanging out with Seungcheol at his apartment (which Chan assumes Jeonghan still frequents) sometimes when they’re at work. But every so often Jeonghan’s name is mentioned and it seems like everything is back to square one. Minghao glares daggers and Mingyu opens his eyes wide like somebody just said ‘Voldemort’ instead of ‘You-Know-Who’. And of course, Seungkwan is still very vocal in his dislike of Jeonghan, but Chan has only been able to do so much in the past few weeks since the break-up.

 

He tries to play the devil’s advocate, or posit that there might be some unknown reason as to why Jeonghan dumped human-turned-sunshine Seokmin. His opinions mostly fall on deaf ears.

 

“Well if there’s some ‘unknown reason’, he still didn’t have to be such a dick about it. Like maybe he could have been a decent boyfriend and talked to Seokmin about it instead of kicking his ass to the curb without telling him why,” Minghao tells him one day at practice.

 

Chan agrees, and he’s pretty sure Jeonghan knows and regrets this and wants to fix it. He texts Chan often enough about it to be sure.

 

**HanAngel:** are you sure he doesn’t hate me?

**HanAngel:** because i would

**HanAngel:** i’m such an idiot

**HanAngel:** and a coward

**HanAngel:** i don’t deserve him

**HanAngel:** but i think i love him and i should tell him, right?

**HanAngel:** or would that fuck everything up more

**HanAngel:** asdjfkl i haven’t even seen him since that night

**HanAngel:** pretty sure i’m getting kicked out of choir bc i haven’t dared show my face there

**HanAngel:** i think i want to talk to him at the party

**HanAngel:** seungcheol’s i mean

**HanAngel:** that i’m in love with him, i mean

**HanAngel:** or at least i can say hello?

**HanAngel:** see his face

**HanAngel:** his smile

**HanAngel:** will he be there?

**Lee_Chan:** hello to you too, hyung

**HanAngel:**  shut your face lee chan

**HanAngel:**  ur the only one i know who talks to him and still acknowledges my existence

**HanAngel:** plz just tell me if he’ll be there

 

**Lee_Chan:** as far as i know he will be

**Lee_Chan:** but so will Seungkwan-hyung

**HanAngel:** don’t worry, i got a plan for that

 

 

Chan does, too. And it’s not a very sophisticated plan, either. As soon as Seungkwan steps into the party, Chan plans to shove Hansol at him and hopefully that will be distracting enough that Jeonghan will be able to talk to Seokmin without being bodily harmed. At least, not that much.

 

And as if Chan’s plate isn’t already full with a possible lover’s reunion, Jihoon is freaking out about what to get Seungcheol as a birthday gift. Chan stops in to check up on him the next day at his studio (he knows Soonyoung won’t be there because he was whining about a doctor’s appointment scheduled for today earlier that week at practice) and is shocked to find Jihoon in a more frazzled state than usual.

 

“What are you getting him?” Jihoon asks Chan before he even has a chance to sit down and share some of his mom’s homemade kimbap.

 

“For Seungcheol-hyung?” Chan asks, still confused by Jihoon’s sudden question and the crazed look in his eye. Jihoon nods vigorously. “Uh, I was just going to bring some beer.”

 

Apparently, that’s not the right answer, because Jihoon groans and runs his hand through his hair so that some of it is standing straight up. It actually completes his manic, stressed music major look.

 

“Ugh, I don’t know why I’m freaking out about this. I don’t even know if I should get him anything in the first place,” Jihoon moans, making grabby hands for the container of kimbap. Chan obliges and hands it over, but doesn’t let Jihoon off so easy.

 

“Maybe because you want to get hyung the perfect gift?”

 

“And why would I want to do that?” Jihoon grumbles, stuffing his mouth full.

 

Chan gives him a knowing smile. “Because you like hyung.”

 

Jihoon glares at him, but his cheeks are full of food so it make s him look like a little angry hamster.

 

“I don’t know what Soonyoung has been telling you, but I don’t like hyung. I just admire him. And this is his last birthday on campus with everybody so it should be special.”

 

Chan feels his face heat up at the mention of Soonyoung, but luckily Jihoon isn’t paying him any attention, already turning back to stare at his computer screen with a panicked expression. Chan could keep pestering him about his crush on Seungcheol, but he’s never seen Jihoon like this before and he’s not sure he’ll actually accomplish anything through that route. Instead, Chan decides to be a good Cupid and a good dongsaeng and tries to offer some help instead.

 

“Well, you seem to know him pretty well. What do you think he would like?”

 

Jihoon starts thinking, biting his lips in concentration. “I don’t know.”

 

“Maybe ask Jisoo-hyung if he needs anything?” Chan suggests.

 

Jihoon shakes his head. “That would be too obvious,” he mumbles. He grabs another piece of kimbap and shoves it in his mouth.

 

“Why are you worried about being obvious if you _don’t_ like him?” Chan asks, becoming frustrated by how stubborn Jihoon is being right now. Seriously, how can Jihoon be Love Sick and refuse to admit he even _likes_ Seungcheol?

 

He barely manages to dodge the piece of kimbap that soars through the air as a response.

 

Chan huffs and steals back all of the kimbap Jihoon had hoarded on his desk in retaliation. “You guys seem to bond over music, why don’t you get him something related to that?”

 

Jihoon tilts his head and hums. “Maybe,” he says slowly, before slapping headphones on his ears and hunching over his laptop.

 

Chan leaves thirty minutes later, putting the leftover kimbap on the couch where Jihoon can find it and desperately hoping that everything won’t fall apart before the party.

 

 

As the hours tick by and the party draws closer, Chan feels an uneasy sort of energy take over his body. He realizes when Hansol shows up at their dorm, fretting over which outfit to wear, that he’s _nervous_. There’s sort of a lot riding on tonight and Chan has the power to make things better, to help sort out the issues and make everyone friends again. He tries to turn his nerves into excitement, and it helps that Hansol looks like he’s trying to do the exact same thing next to him.

 

Chan arrives with Hansol a few minutes later than they’re supposed to (Hansol ends up settling with his standard ripped jeans and oversized t-shirt after half an hour of agonizing over the decision) at the bar Jisoo rented out for the night.

 

The bar is narrow and dark and Chan spends .2 seconds panicking and thinking that nobody showed up despite Jisoo’s threats before his eyes adjust and he recognizes several faces in the crowd in front of the bartender. Thankfully, out of duty and in the interest of repairing their friendship, everyone is there. Well, almost everyone. And they’re not all talking to each other. But at least they’re there. Most of them. Chan has the feeling he’s going to get a headache before the night is over.

 

Jisoo fights his way through the crowd toward them, giving them a quick smile before leading them to the back room where the party will take place. It’s warm and feels even more crowded in the back room, but at least it’s a little bit brighter and there’s a large glass door that leads to a tiny patio outside. There’s a smattering of pub tables and bar stools, but the majority of the room is open and empty, presumably for dancing. Out on the patio is a small table with a few gifts slapped on it and a mini-bar with a bartender who looks like she’d rather be anywhere than working at a birthday party for a college kid.

 

Jisoo explains the drink system to them and assures them that he bullied several people into being designated drivers to shuttle people home whenever they need it. Chan doesn’t plan on drinking tonight, but he nods along with Hansol anyways. Jisoo also tells them that Seungcheol, who will be arriving in about twenty minutes, still doesn’t know that any of this is happening.

 

“At least, I hope he doesn’t,” Jisoo mumbles, worrying his bottom lip before darting off to round more guests into the appropriate room.

 

After getting two lemonades from the min-bar Chan and Hansol take over one of the pub tables nestled in the corner, neither confident enough to start up conversation with someone they don’t know. Slowly, though, Chan sees some of their friends filter in, herded by Jisoo in small groups.

 

First is Jeonghan who rolls his eyes at Jisoo’s obsessive organizing, but dutifully links elbows with Junhui and Wonwoo to keep them out on the patio with him. The only thing betraying Jeonghan’s nerves is the vice-like grip on his glass of beer.

 

Jisoo whisks back in the room seconds later with Jihoon, who looks impossibly tense, closely followed by Mingyu and Minghao and (Chan doesn’t know why he didn’t think of it before) Soonyoung is there too, bouncing up and down excitedly beside Jihoon while trying to get him to engage in conversation.

 

Chan falters when he sees Soonyoung, realizing that this is the first time he’s seen him in a non-dance setting in weeks and he’s not ready for the way he looks. Soonyoung is wearing a t-shirt and tight fitting jeans, nothing special, but just different enough from his usual dance sweats that it makes Chan’s eyes linger a little longer on the line of his legs, the width of his shoulders. His hair looks soft and he’s wearing a silver earring that catches in the light whenever he throws his head back to laugh. He looks good. Ugh.

 

Chan shakes his head like he’s trying to rid his head of thoughts because as much as he hates to admit it, he’s here to work. There’s way too many of his assignments in one place, and with alcohol, Chan is sure that _something_ is going to happen tonight. He can’t get distracted because of some cute boy.

 

If Soonyoung can even be considered to be cute.

 

It doesn’t make things easier when Soonyoung spots Chan and his entire face lights up. He smiles sweetly and waves at Chan, but thankfully he’s saved from waving back by Jisoo arriving with the next group of guests.

 

By the way the entire room freezes, Chan can guess who it is.

 

He turns and sees as Seokmin and Seungkwan make their way into the small room, a small smile fixed on Seokmin’s face and a judgmental glare fixed on Seungkwan’s. As soon as Seungkwan spots Jeonghan, he turns away and steers an oblivious Seokmin in the opposite direction, which just so happens to be where Chan and Hansol are standing by themselves at their table.

 

“Hey guys!” Seokmin greets cheerily. He gives Chan a hug and grins knowingly at Hansol, whose attitude and demeanor changes dramatically once Seungkwan gives him a warm hug when he reaches him.

 

“How’s it going, Hansol?” Seokmin asks.

 

Hansol manages to squeak out a quiet “Good, thanks,” before nearly melting when Seungkwan moves so that they’re standing next to each other, arms brushing. At first, Chan thinks it’s so that Seungkwan can just be near Hansol. But when he thinks about it, Seungkwan now has a better vantage point to see where Jeonghan is still standing out on the patio and Seokmin is forced to turn his back on that particular area if he wants to engage in conversation with the others.

 

Well. The whole distract-Seungkwan-with-Hansol plan isn’t really working (looks like Seungkwan is more prepared and stubborn than he thought), but at least one potential couple is talking. Chan is forced to stand there while Seungkwan flirts with Hansol and stands guard over Seokmin. He ends up mostly making small talk with Seokmin just to avoid the secondhand embarrassment that comes from watching his roommate bumble through an interaction with Seungkwan again. He had seemed so confident, or at least more at ease with Seungkwan after their date. But maybe something changed; something Chan doesn’t know about. Or maybe Hansol’s just self-conscious because now he knows he’s being watched. He’ll have to ask later.

 

Chan makes it through about ten excruciating minutes before Jisoo bounces back into the room and announces that Seungcheol is almost there. Someone dims the lights and everyone presses against the walls because there’s really nowhere else to hide. 

 

When Jisoo opens the door for Seungcheol, Chan keeps his eyes glued on Jihoon. Jihoon hops (was probably pushed) out from his hiding spot behind Mingyu and rakes his eyes over Seungcheol, who seems genuinely surprised by the party even if he does look at Jisoo like he knows this is a thinly veiled excuse to get all of their friends into the same place again. But as soon as Jihoon is done gawking, he shrinks in on himself and hides behind the closest body while Jisoo initiates a toast for Seungcheol. The birthday boy smiles wide and starts making the rounds while music starts filtering in through some speakers in the ceiling, encouraging people to dance.

 

Chan should go over there and convince Jihoon to make a move, ask the birthday boy for a dance, anything, but Jihoon is still hiding and Soonyoung is over there trying to lead everyone in a loud chorus of “Happy Birthday” despite the hip-hop music blaring from the speakers and Chan really doesn’t want to go over there right now. He’s still having these _feelings_ and he can’t trust anything that might come out of his mouth. So he sticks with Hansol and Seungkwan and Seokmin and tries to come up with a way to get Seungkwan and Hansol to leave Seokmin alone.

 

Nothing’s working so far; Chan has made hints for Hansol and Seungkwan to get drinks, asked them about their date, and even mentioned that they look cute standing next to each other. Seungkwan always finds an excuse not to budge from his spot and his comments only make Hansol blush and look like he’s about to pass out. And even though Seokmin is at least a head taller than Seungkwan, Seungkwan tries to use his body as a shield to keep Seokmin from seeing Jeonghan. Which is ridiculous because they can all clearly hear Jeonghan wishing Seungcheol a happy birthday with fervor only a few feet away. The place isn’t _that_ big and Jeonghan has a voice that carries.

 

For his part, Seokmin doesn’t look perturbed by Jeonghan or his voice and joins Seungkwan in keeping the conversation light and safe and ex-boyfriend free. Hansol is being as useless as ever, just staring at Seungkwan and spilling his drink on himself because now being so close to his not-yet-boyfriend seems to be affecting his motor functions. Chan is so tired and he’s only been here for maybe half an hour. What a night.

 

Eventually, Seungcheol makes his way over to their table. He hugs them all while they congratulate him for another trip around the sun and tell him which gifts they got him. Hansol had chipped in with Chan to buy a fancy six-pack of craft beer. Seungkwan and Seokmin get him a t-shirt with one of his weird hip-hop artists that he likes on it.

 

“Thanks for coming, guys,” he tells them, giving another round of hugs. “I know it’s been a while.”

 

Seokmin smiles sheepishly. “Couldn’t miss your birthday, though.”

 

“Well I’m glad that you all made it. Enjoy yourselves, okay? There’s definitely enough to drink and it looks like some people are starting to dance, so have fun. But responsibly, of course,” Seungcheol says before leaving them to greet the rest of his guests.

 

Chan notices Jihoon excuses himself to the bathroom when Seungcheol gets over to where he had been hiding behind Mingyu, apparently refusing to even talk to Seungcheol. Shit. Chan didn’t realize when it got that bad, hadn’t realized when Jihoon had fallen so deep that he can’t even wish the boy he likes a happy birthday.

 

Chan gets distracted when Mingyu and Minghao join them at their table after a while, situating themselves carefully around Seokmin like bodyguards. They make small talk and bop along to the music, which is fine except it’s not. After only a minute, Chan can’t take it anymore. He doesn’t understand why his friends can’t let anyone come close to even talking to Seokmin, like he’s a kid who needs protecting instead of an adult that can make his own decisions. In the back of his mind, he knows it’s because they love him, but it’s coming across as childish. Especially when Seokmin doesn’t ask to have a human fence blocking his view of a party that he explicitly said he wanted to attend.

 

Chan excuses himself to get another drink and weaves his way through the crowd toward the mini-bar out on the patio. It’s thankfully pretty empty out on the patio. The music still filters in from inside, but there’s significantly less people and less body heat. Chan feels like he can actually breathe again, so he takes a moment and tries to clear his thoughts away from his increasingly frustrating friends. There has to be something he can do to give Seokmin a chance to talk to Jeonghan, as long as he’s up for it. But nothing comes to mind because everyone is being so damn obstinate.

 

With a sigh, Chan asks the bartender for a water and goes over several possible game plans in his brain while takes a few sips.

 

When Chan is ready to try again and head back into the party, he looks up and finds Wonwoo making his way over to the mini-bar. Chan decides to procrastinate going back to his Cupid duties for a little bit longer and greets him with a small wave. Wonwoo doesn’t say anything to Chan, but asks the bartender for three different cocktails. Wonwoo isn’t the most talkative of people, so the silence shouldn’t bother Chan this much, but when Wonwoo regards Chan with an icy stare he knows something is wrong.

 

“Hey hyung, how’s it going?” Chan asks calmly, trying to gauge Wonwoo’s response. Maybe Wonwoo is just having an off day, or he’s tired or something. He definitely wouldn’t be the only one at this party having a rough time.

 

Wonwoo sighs and leans against the bar. He looks at Chan like he’s thinking hard and Chan squirms under his gaze.

 

“Look, Chan. I haven’t known you that long and you seem like a good kid…but you have to cut it with the whole innocent schoolboy thing,” Wonwoo says coolly.

 

Chan feels his cheeks heat up. “What are you talking about?”

 

Wonwoo sighs and gestures weakly at Chan. “This is what I’m talking about, Chan. Just open your eyes, okay?”

 

“I honestly don’t know—”

 

“Someone’s going to get hurt if this keeps going on,” Wonwoo interrupts him impatiently.

 

Chan gapes like a fish, his brain running at full speed trying to interpret what Wonwoo’s trying to tell him. Nothing comes to him and he flounders as Wonwoo gets his drinks and turns to go, then seems to reconsider and turns back to Chan.

 

“And stop ignoring Soonyoung,” Wonwoo says sternly.

 

“I’m not ignoring him, I just…haven’t, uh, seen him outside of practice in a while,” he manages to get out.

 

“Well he thinks you’re mad at him or something, you know how he gets,” Wonwoo sighs. “Just—he’s one of my best friends and he means a lot to me and I hate when he gets like this. Talk to him; tell him that you’re at least not mad at him or whatever. Okay?”

 

With that, Wonwoo picks up his drinks and goes back into the party without another glance back at Chan.

 

Okay, well…that was really fucking weird. Chan has no idea what Wonwoo is talking about or what brought about his sudden need to call Chan out on being an “innocent schoolboy”. Chan huffs. He’s not innocent and he’s eighteen, thank you very much.

 

Wait. Unless…

 

Unless Wonwoo knows about the crush? The kind of crush Chan maybe has on Soonyoung?

 

Chan’s heartbeat picks up at the thought. Wonwoo’s a smart guy; he could have figured it out. Is he warning Chan to stay away from Soonyoung? That Soonyoung obviously doesn’t like him like that and he’s stupid for having a crush in the first place?

 

Before Chan can put any more effort into finding out what Wonwoo is trying to tell him, Hansol spills out onto the patio in a flurry of limbs.

 

Chan groans in frustration. Nothing seems to be going right tonight and the stress is finally getting to him.

 

“What are _you_ doing here?” he snaps.

 

Hansol, looking confused at Chan’s comment, just shrugs. “I’m thirsty?”

 

“You’re supposed to be keeping Seungkwan busy!” Chan moans. He chugs the rest of his water and then shoos Hansol off the patio and back to the party. Hansol struggles and tries to go back to the patio to get a drink but his complaints fall flat because Chan’s brain is going into overdrive.

 

Back inside, the party is in full swing now. There’s a mass of people dancing drunkenly to the bass-heavy music, and it looks like that everyone who isn’t dancing is watching and bopping awkwardly from the sides. As it is, Chan has to fight to make his way quickly through mass of bodies now occupying the dance floor, all while pushing Hansol in front of him. He barely manages to dodge Junhui, who’s grinding lewdly with some girl, and Jisoo dancing a few feet away looking only slightly horrified. They magically make it across the room in one piece; their little group is still at their table and the protective circle around Seokmin is still intact.

 

“Hyung!” Chan calls when he gets within earshot. Four heads whip around at the sound of Chan’s voice and he groans inwardly.

 

“Seungkwan-hyung,” he clarifies. Seungkwan tilts his head. “Hansollie-hyung needs to talk to you,” he says, and then promptly tugs Hansol forward by his wrist and points him in Seungkwan’s direction. Hansol stutters and looks surprised, but he doesn’t try to prove Chan wrong. Chan hears him quietly ask Seungkwan if there’s somewhere where they can talk and Seungkwan turns red before leading Hansol away to a more secluded corner of the room. Chan could cry that that worked, even though he knows the reason Seungkwan went with Hansol is because Mingyu and Minghao are still there to watch over Seokmin.

 

“Wow, Agent Chan in action,” Seokmin says looking impressed. He high-fives Chan and looks excitedly over his shoulder to where the young couple had disappeared. “Should we spy on them?” he asks.

 

Chan shakes his head. “I think they’ll be okay.”

 

He actually does think so. But. Two down, two to go. There’s no time to play spy.

 

“Uh, I saw somebody I know. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” Chan asks without waiting for an answer and turns swiftly on his heel to head back in the direction he just came from. If he wants this to work, he needs to work fast. As he was fighting through the dance floor earlier, he thought he caught a glimpse of Jeonghan slumping sadly against a wall in the darkest corner of the room. On his second fight through the dance floor, Chan finds that Jeonghan is still there, only now he’s joined with an equally-as-miserable-looking Jihoon.

 

“What’s your plan?” Chan asks when he gets within hearing distance. He has to yell a little because the music is so loud.

 

Jeonghan gives him a confused look.

 

“Your plan to talk to Seokminnie-hyung,” Chan clarifies.

 

Jeonghan’s face falls.

 

“Oh,” he says quietly. “I didn’t really have one.”

 

Chan doesn’t bother hiding his groan of frustration.

 

“Well you better come up with one quick,” he shouts at Jeonghan, “I got rid of Seungkwan-hyung, but I don’t know for how long. He still has some bodyguards, though.”

 

Jeonghan peers over Chan’s head to see if what he said is true, and bites his lip.

 

“What’re you talking about?” Jihoon asks, looking disgruntled.

 

“I’m trying to help hyung talk to Seokminnie-hyung but Mingyu-hyung and Minghao-hyung might punch him if he gets too close.”

 

Jihoon nods in understanding.

 

“Get someone to challenge Minghao to a dance-off or something. That always works with Soonyoung, anyways,” Jihoon yells over the music.

 

“Hyung, you’re a genius,” Chan says right as Jeonghan says “Hoonie, I could kiss you.”

 

Jihoon makes an expression equal parts embarrassment and disgust. “No,” he says flatly to Jeonghan when he tries to hug him despite his protests. “Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose anyways?”

 

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Jeonghan apologizes, looking significantly more upbeat than just a few seconds ago. “But what about the other one?”

 

“I’ll figure it out on the way,” Chan says. “Let’s do this.”

 

Third time’s the charm, right? This time, as Chan fights through the sea of thrashing bodies, when he spots Junhui he reaches out and pulls his arm close so he can whisper their plan into his ear. Junhui’s face immediately lights up in understanding. He lets Chan pull him over to where Mingyu and Minghao are still staked out on either side of Seokmin. It looks like, Seungkwan and Hansol are still gone. Chan peeks over into the corner they disappeared to earlier, but they aren’t there anymore so he really doesn’t know how much more time he has left to pull this off.

 

Junhui is obviously intoxicated. He’s swaying on his feet and his words slur wonderfully as he declares, “I challenge thee to a duel!” He points to the middle of Minghao’s chest and then pokes him when Minghao doesn’t respond.

 

“What, think you’ll embarrass yourself Hao Hao?” Junhui taunts, his finger straying dangerously close to Minghao’s face. Chan is surprised Minghao doesn’t lean forward and bite at him because he’s seen him do it plenty of times before. But tonight (finally), the Council must look down on him favorably because Minghao narrows his eyes and steps forward.

 

“No,” Minghao says. “But I think it will be hilarious to see you fall on your drunk ass.” He reaches over to high-five Mingyu, and the other responds without missing a beat.

 

Junhui smirks and turns away, leading the way to the dance floor. Minghao follows with Mingyu (thankfully) right behind. When it looks like Seokmin will follow too, Chan grabs his arm to keep him by the table. Seokmin looks at him questioningly, but Chan is saved from answering by the appearance of Jeonghan at his elbow.

 

“I’ll be right over there if you need me,” Chan tells Seokmin before gesturing to a spot on the wall not too far away. Seokmin nods, doesn’t try to beg Chan to stay or try to smack Jeonghan, so Chan figures he’s up to having a chat with his ex.

 

Just in case, Chan looks around wildly to make sure no one is looking, but Minghao and Mingyu are both glaring at Junhui while he slides gracefully across the dance floor and Seungkwan is still nowhere to be found. Seeing no immediate dangers, Chan backs away and tries to become one with the wall, ears straining to hear their conversation over the music.

 

Jeonghan opens his mouth to say something, but stops at the last second. He waves his hand lamely instead and gives Seokmin a weak smile. Seokmin looks like he’s trying to compose himself; he goes a little stiff and Chan can’t tell if he’s fighting a smile or the urge to run away. Jeonghan must sense it, too, because when he opens his mouth a second time, he actually speaks.

 

“Sorry, is it too soon? I just wanted to say hi, but I can go if you want.” Jeonghan visibly gulps as he waits for an answer and shoves his hands nervously into the pockets of his jeans.

 

Seokmin’s jaw muscles twitch and Chan can tell he’s doing his own scan of the room, trying to estimate how much time he has before someone tackles Jeonghan to the ground. But no one is paying attention to them, most of the attention in the room now drawn to Minghao who’s showing off his b-boy skills in the middle of the crowd.

 

“It’s fine,” Seokmin says after a few seconds.

 

“Oh, well. Then…hi,” Jeonghan finally greets.

 

“Hi.”

 

Silence.

 

Chan can’t just make himself invisible in the middle of a party, but he might be able to get away with shooting one of them without anyone noticing. Humans can’t see his crossbow, but it still might look weird if he’s pointing at random people while standing by himself in a dark corner. But right now, he doesn’t see much of an option. There’s no telling when Seungkwan could appear again and Mingyu could turn around at any second.

 

Just as Chan materializes his crossbow in his palm, Jeonghan decides to take action before Chan can shoot. He leans forward so that Seokmin can hear him without screaming at him.

 

“Can we talk?” he asks. “Like maybe somewhere quiet?”

 

Chan pauses, waiting to see how this will progress without his interference.

 

Seokmin looks at Jeonghan, pretty intensely from what Chan can see, weighing his options. After a minute, he nods slowly. Jeonghan finally looks like he can breathe again and motions for Seokmin to follow. He does, following behind Jeonghan as he skirts around the edge of the dance battle that seems to have drawn even more attention and competitors (Chan’s brain supplies that Soonyoung probably hadn’t been able to resist and is probably somewhere in there too despite his still-healing ankle, _shut up_ brain, it’s time to focus) and toward the door that leads out into the front room of the bar.

 

Shit. Chan needs to get out there too, and quickly.

 

Chan dematerializes his crossbow and then makes his way quickly toward the door (he’s had a lot of practice dodging through crowds recently), and he thinks he’s about to slip through unseen after the couple, when a warm hand catches him on the shoulder. He turns around to tell whoever it is to fuck off because he’s not in the mood right now. He’s actually ready to pretty much physically fight off Seungkwan or even Mingyu or Minghao if they saw Seokmin follow Jeonghan out the door, but instead he comes face to face with Soonyoung.

 

Soonyoung who is flushed and sweaty and beaming at Chan with his full sunshine force. Chan feels his big stupid dumb heart skip a beat.

 

This is not what he needs right now.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo is just trying to be a good friend! He thinks Soonyoung's crush on Chan is obvious (which it is to everyone except Chan) and doesn't want Chan to lead him on if he's not interested.
> 
> ALSO…this fic is officially over a year (and a couple days) old! Thanks for everyone who’s been here since the beginning and those who have joined somewhere along the way! Your comments and kudos are always appreciated!! Love you all :*

**Author's Note:**

> This is just an intro chapter but...any thoughts?


End file.
